The Baker and the Healer
by TomHRichardson
Summary: AU in which Primrose Everdeen goes into the 74th Hunger Games because Katniss Everdeen is too sick to attend the Reaping. The story will sometimes not play out like you expect. Eventual 'ships will be Katniss/Peeta, Haymitch/Effie, and (a little bit of) Gale/Madge.
1. Feverish Katniss

Cover image: h*t*t*p*s COLON SLASH SLASH tomhrichardson DOT files DOT wordpress DOT com SLASH 2018 SLASH 10 SLASH tbth-banner-750x10003 DOT jpg

The character of Dr. Josephus Picardo is taken (with permission) from SFCBruce's Hunger Games alt-universe deuterology, "Absolution"/"Epiphany." I highly recommend those two stories. Any resemblances between Dr. Picardo and the snarky Emergency Medical Hologram on "Star Trek: Voyager" are _not_ coincidental.

 **Chapter 1**  
 **Feverish Katniss**

 **June 21st, HG 74 (a Tuesday)  
** **Morning of the 74th Reaping** **  
** **Seven days until the Gong** **  
** **The Everdeen shack, the Seam  
** **District Twelve, Panem**

 _BAM-BAM-BAM!_ "Katniss Everdeen, open up!" Head Peacekeeper Cray yelled. "We know you're in there."

For Dr. Josephus Picardo, the wait for the shack's front door to be answered was not long; but it was longer than he expected, given how small the shack was.

Soon the front door opened, and Capitol Coal's one physician got his first look at supposedly-sick Katniss Everdeen.

She was Seam, which meant that she had gray eyes, olive skin, and black hair. At the moment, the black hair had been worked into a sloppy braid. For a sixteen-year-old girl, she was short.

"Whoa," said redheaded Peacekeeper MacGregor, who was standing next to Cray. "Katniss looks really sick."

And indeed, the sixteen-year-old Seam girl _did_ look ill. She had a blanket wrapped around herself, though this June morning was warm; Katniss was shivering. Her dark face was red, and her stare was glassy.

"Are you the dog?" Katniss asked the three men outside her door. "My daddy told me to wait for the dog."

"Um, Katniss?" said Peacekeeper MacGregor. "Your daddy has been dead five years."

"This is bullshit, girlie, complete bullshit!" Cray yelled. "Quit your faking and get to the Square _right now_ , or I _will_ flog you unconscious!"

"Congratulations on getting your medical license, Paulus," Dr. Picardo said. "Because of the three of us, only someone with a _medical license_ is competent to determine whether this girl is sick or faking."

"Are you the dog?" shivering Katniss asked.

"Listen, doctor," Cray said, "I've dealt with this girl before. She's a little criminal. And now her mother, _the district healer_ , says Katniss is too sick to attend the Reaping? I know bullshit when I hear it."

Doctor Picardo then asked Cray, "If I examine her and I conclude that she is _not_ faking, will there be a problem? Between you and me?"

Cray's face turned even redder than usual. After a pause, he said, "No, there won't be a problem."

Dr. Picardo stepped forward and smiled at the shivering teenaged girl. "Hello, Miss Everdeen, I'm Dr. Josephus Picardo, the mine-company doctor. I'm here to examine you."

Katniss looked confused. "But my daddy's the miner, not me. You don't treat anybody but miners. That's why District Twelve needs Mother."

"This is a special time," Dr. Picardo said. "Let's go inside so I can examine you. Is anyone else in your sha—in your house?"

Katniss turned around and walked inside. She had a limp. She called over her shoulder, "Only Buttercup is here. Buttercup is the cat; he's evil. Buttercup will eat the dog if Daddy doesn't stop him."

"I meant, are any other _people_ in the house?"

"No. Mother and Prim are at the Reaping."

"Like _you_ should be!" Cray said, from half a meter away.

Dr. Picardo turned around, and discovered that, while Peacekeeper MacGregor had stayed outside, Cray had followed the doctor into the shack.

Dr. Picardo used his doctor-bag to give Cray a shove toward the open door. " _Out_. My examination of the patient will be conducted _in private_."

Cray leered. "She _is_ kinda pretty for a Seam girl, isn't she? Well fed. And since she'll do _anything_ to get out of the Reaping, you should hold her to that."

Dr. Picardo did not _say_ that he thought Cray was a scummy pervert, but the doctor made sure his look said it all. "Begone."

Cray said, "I was about to leave anyway; I have a Reaping to oversee. Darius!"

Cray walked over to Peacekeeper MacGregor and murmured in his ear. Dr. Picardo overheard "...sure he doesn't find out too much. The doc's clinic is way too near the CLO," the Capitol Liaison Office.

* * *

While Katniss was wrapped in her blanket, the doctor took her temperature. Her temperature turned out to be a fiery 42.1°. Next, the doctor wrapped the girl's arm in a blood-pressure cuff. Katniss's blood pressure was as worryingly low as her temperature was worryingly high.

Then Dr. Picardo asked Katniss to disrobe. He intended to look for needle marks, just in case her healer mother had indeed helped fake the girl's illness. But that possibility vanished once Katniss threw the blanket on her mother's bed.

Now Katniss Everdeen stood naked in her mother's tiny bedroom, and Dr. Picardo saw how _un_ fake the girl's sickness was.

Katniss Everdeen was thin, by Capitol standards. But she was not _gaunt_ —by Seam standards, she was indeed well fed. And yet her family, Dr. Picardo had been told, had gone without a miner's pay for five years. Where Katniss had been getting her food for five years was a mystery.

But perhaps some horrible clues to the mystery were right in front of the doctor.

Naked Katniss had claw-marks on her hips and legs. The claw-marks were not deep, but they were inflamed. Katniss also had a long and deep gash, which went down and around her left leg, that was inflamed and oozing pus. A long cut along Katniss's left palm also was red, puffy, and oozing pus.

 _She has blood poisoning_ , Dr. Picardo thought.

Dr. Picardo gestured toward the girl's injuries. "How did you get these?"

"A squirrel," Katniss said too quickly. "A squirrel bit me."

That this brain-cooked girl could lie at all, told the doctor that her lie was well practiced. Add to this the fact that no animal _inside_ the fence could have given Katniss those injuries, and the fact that Peacekeeper MacGregor and Head Peacekeeper Cray were clearly trying to keep a secret from the mine-company doctor, and the doctor was starting to get suspicious.

Doctor Picardo wondered aloud, "Is Cray pushing to get Miss Everdeen to the Reaping because it is his job to uphold the Treaty of the Treason? Or is he trying to hide the fact that she is doing illegal farming or fishing or hunting outside the fence, and Cray is eating some of her food?"

"Cray likes turkey," addled Katniss said. "And pussy. He's a shithead."

Dr. Picardo came to a decision. He wrapped Katniss back up in her blanket, then he yelled, " _Peacekeeper MacGregor, please come here!_ "

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Dr. Picardo had been shocked to discover that the Everdeen shack had only two rooms: a tiny bedroom for Katniss's mother, and a room for everything else. Cooking, entertaining guests, and watching mandatory holograms were all done in the same room where Katniss slept with her younger sister.

Dr. Picardo was further shocked to discover that the only things that covered the sisters' mattress was a blanket, which Katniss now was wearing as a robe; and a plain white bedsheet.

Dr. Picardo pulled the sheet off the mattress, and pressed that sheet into service as a stretcher. Dr. Picardo and Peacekeeper MacGregor carried their patient from her shack to the building that contained the offices of the Capitol Liaison and Capitol Coal.

* * *

Normally, such a trip would have been a straight movement from Point A to Point B. But since the building where they were headed was on the south side of the Square and this was Reaping Day, the path became much longer, and never passed closer than a few decameters from the Square.

Just before he, Peacekeeper MacGregor, and their bedsheet-stretchered patient entered the Capitol Liaison Building (from the back), Dr. Picardo heard the recorded voice of President Snow—

"War, terrible war. Widows, orphans, a motherless child..."

Dr. Picardo tuned it out. The Reaping was not important to him, or to anyone he knew, except as entertainment.

Soon afterward, in the Capitol Liaison Building hallway, Dr. Picardo and Peacekeeper MacGregor had to set Katniss on the floor while Dr. Picardo fumbled with the keys to unlock the clinic. A half-minute later, just as Dr. Picardo and the redheaded young Peacekeeper were carrying Katniss through the door, Dr. Picardo heard a Capitol-accented woman's amplified voice coming from the District Twelve Square: "As usual, ladies first."

Once the doctor, the Peacekeeper, and Katniss were in the clinic, and Katniss had been laid on an examination bed, Dr. Picardo said to Peacekeeper MacGregor, "Do you know Katniss's mother? What she looks like?"

"Aloe Everdeen? Yes, she's in her thirties, blond hair. I'm told she used to be beautiful."

"Go find her. And Cray. Tell them both I've got Katniss Everdeen here, and ask Mrs. Everdeen for her help. Meanwhile, tell Cray, quote, 'Katniss Everdeen, if untreated and Reaped, would have died before the Launching.' " This was the _only_ justification, under Snow's laws, for excusing a child from the Reaping.

Now MacGregor looked confused. "You want me to ask for the _district healer's_ help? Don't you have a nurse?"

"I gave her and Urbania—my receptionist and record-keeper—the day off. With the mines closed today, I naively thought"—Dr. Picardo rolled his eyes—"that Urbania, Antonia, and I would have an easy day today. Also, I'm asking Katniss's mother to come here because she is Katniss's mother, and Katniss is my patient."

Then Dr. Picardo lowered his voice. " _Also_ , Peacekeeper MacGregor, Katniss got her injuries _outside_ the fence, as you and your boss know perfectly well. Whatever this girl is doing when she's not in school, I think we can trust her mother _not_ to blab anything to the Capitol Liaison, whereas Antonia would be in Domiducus Jones's office before lunchtime. And then Domiducus Jones would have _pointed questions_ for the Head Peacekeeper, _hm?_ "

"Um, right. Uh, thanks for helping us out," the redheaded Peacekeeper said. Then he hurried out of the clinic.

Afterward, Dr. Picardo was temporarily alone with his limping, brain-addled patient. He took a blood sample and a urine sample, and started his machines at performing their medical diagnostic magic. He got Katniss to lie on a table that he dragged under one of the icy-cold air-conditioning vents, in order to cool her off. While her body cooled down to 37.0°, Dr. Picardo tried to figure out how to fix what was wrong with her.

Right now, Katniss Everdeen was at death's door, but Josephus Picardo was resolved to _not_ let her stay this way.

Once Katniss was cooled down, so Dr. Picardo planned, he and Katniss's mother would begin the work of cleaning her wounds and of stitching her up. Dr. Picardo expected Aloe Everdeen to come to the clinic soon, because the Reaping ceremony was about over.

* * *

It was almost an hour later when Aloe Everdeen came to Dr. Picardo's clinic.

Aloe Everdeen's eyes were red, and her face was tear-streaked.

Dr. Picardo asked her, "Why are you crying?"

Aloe replied, "Because Prim, my baby and Katniss's younger sister, is now on the train to the Capitol. She's been Reaped."


	2. At the Reaping

**Chapter 2**  
 **At the Reaping**

 **An hour and a half earlier  
At the D-F check-in table  
At the edge of the Square  
District Twelve**

"This is Primrose Everdeen," Prim's mother Aloe declared. "She's twelve."

"Gimme your finger, girl," said the bored-looking Peacekeeper who was sitting at the table. Prim held her left hand out, index finger extended. The Peacekeeper now sounded irritated: " _No_ , girl, with the fingerprint _up_ , not _down_."

Prim turned her hand around, and the Peacekeeper pressed a gun-like thing against her fingertip. Prim felt a sting of pain; she flinched. Seconds later, Prim saw a tiny droplet of blood on her fingertip, 2 millimeters in diameter.

"Don't wipe the blood off your finger, Prim," Mother warned. Prim wondered, _Why not?_

The Peacekeeper, meanwhile, was glancing at a screen on the back of the finger-pricker gun. "Confirmed: Everdeen, Primrose," the Peacekeeper announced.

He set his strange gun down and began to turn pages in a three-ring notebook. He stopped at a certain page and pointed to a square within the page. In the square was printed (upside down), "Everdeen, Primrose."

"Put your blood in the square, girl," the Peacekeeper ordered. Prim obeyed.

The Peacekeeper peered at another square on the same page. "Are you two related to Katniss Everdeen?"

"She's my sister," Prim said proudly.

Now the Peacekeeper was glaring at Prim's mother. "Why isn't Katniss Everdeen here now?"

Prim saw many emotions on Mother's face in that moment: fear, despair, grief, and professional shame. Mother answered in a shaky voice, "Because Katniss has hyperpyrexia and other symptoms I can't treat, she's getting worse, and she'll be dead in a week!"

" 'Hyperpyrexia,' what does _that_ mean?" the Peacekeeper asked.

A different male voice said, "It means you're talking to the district healer, Pontius, and she's trying to Six you."

Prim looked into the face of a man in his fifties. From the gewgaws on his Peacekeeper armor, this had to be Head Peacekeeper Cray.

Prim's mother stood straight. "Head Peacekeeper, I wish I were lying about Katniss being at death's door— _oh_ , how I wish it!—but I'm not lying one bit."

"Oh, _sure_ ," Cray sneered, "the _district healer's_ sixteen-year-old daughter, who has a _shitload_ of slips in yonder glass ball, just _happens to be_ nasty sick? Bullshit. She's _faking_ illness, you're _helping_ her fake it, I'm going to _prove_ it, then you'll _both_ be hung for treason!"

"Um, Mr. Head Peacekeeper, sir?" Prim said. "I sleep in the same bed with Katniss. And for the last two nights, she's been like an oven, she's so hot."

Cray said, "Girl, _you_ stay out of this. You're too pretty to hang."

Then Cray turned to look at the young, redheaded Peacekeeper who was standing nearby—one of the few Peacekeepers whom Katniss liked. "Darius!" Cray said, "you and me are going to fetch the mine-company doctor, then"—Cray glared at Mother—"we will get to the _bottom_ of this."

Prim watched Cray and Darius hurry away, then she let her mother lead her to where the twelve-year-old girls were supposed to stand. Prim barely whispered "Goodbye" to her mother.

Prim was a nervous wreck. During the night, she had suffered a nightmare in which she was a tribute in the Hunger Games, and a laughing eighteen-year-old boy was about to kill her. Prim had woken up from her nightmare to discover that Katniss's body was even hotter to the touch than earlier, and that Katniss was awake but babbling. Now Prim had to worry about her mother and her sister being hanged on bogus charges of treason.

 _The only ways this day can get any worse_ , Prim decided, _is to get caught in a hailstorm and to get Reaped_.

Prim looked up. The sky was blue, with no clouds anywhere that could have hailstones in them. Prim hoped this was a good omen for the Reaping.

* * *

Every second that Prim stood in the Square, waiting for the moment when Effie Trinket would reach into the girls' glass ball, was frightening. So Prim did anything she could to distract herself.

Prim watched Haymitch Abernathy, who was clearly already drunk, arrive late to the Reaping ceremony. No sooner had he walked onto the stage but he hugged Effie Trinket, District Twelve's escort, while she was trying to do her job. It was obvious to Prim that Haymitch's unexpected hug rattled Effie, and then he left Effie with her wig crooked.

Prim wondered why a man who had won the Hunger Games did not walk around with clear eyes and pride, but acted so shamefully instead. Not to mention what all that alcohol was doing to his _health!_ Prim felt sorry for Haymitch Abernathy. _He's wasted his life, after such a great start_.

Prim felt sorry for Effie Trinket too. _What must it be like to go through your entire life looking ridiculous, so people are laughing at you, and you never realize any of it?_

Prim was amazed how _cheerful_ Effie Trinket was. To hear Effie tell it, everyone was gathered here so two children could be chosen for two weeks of fun and sand in District Four, instead of being chosen for a two-week-long battle to the death. Compared to Effie, Prim herself was a grump.

For Prim, the "special film, all the way from the Capitol" actually turned out to be interesting—if only because Prim saw the movie for the first time on a big screen and heard it for the first time through booming speakers, instead of mandatory-viewing it on the Everdeen family's cranky old holoprojector.

After the "special film" came the drawing of two names.

Effie lost none of her good cheer when she, while wearing impossibly stilted shoes, walked over to the girls' Reaping ball. "As usual, ladies first."

Effie's hand dropped down into the glass ball, then down farther into the slips of paper. An instant later, her hand came out of the Reaping ball holding one folded slip of paper. Effie used both of her fake-fingernailed hands to unfold the slip of paper.

 _At least she can't Reap Katniss_ , Prim thought.

Effie took a breath, and leaned toward the microphone.

Terrified Prim took a breath too.

* * *

Sixteen-year-old Peeta Mellark had arrived early to the Reaping, so that he could watch for the arrival of Katniss Everdeen.

Who was Peeta's monster crush.

When Madge Undersee had stepped into the section set aside for sixteen-year-old girls, she had theatrically looked around, then had looked over at Peeta. "She's not here yet," Madge had told Peeta with a grin. Madge had not needed to say, and Peeta had not needed to ask, who _she_ was.

But now the drawing of the names had started, and Katniss still was not standing in the Square. Peeta wondered, _Where is Katniss, why isn't she here, and how much trouble will she be—?_

"Primrose Everdeen." Effie Trinket's amplified voice brought Peeta's previous thoughts to a quick halt.

 _Everdeen? EVERDEEN? That's Katniss's sister!_

Behind Peeta, a deep voice from either the seventeens or eighteens muttered, disgusted, "She had _one slip_ in the Reaping ball, y'all." The voice did not say anything else, but Peeta added in his head, _Which makes this a Punitive Reaping_.

Peeta wondered, _But why would Katniss's sister be punitively Reaped? Does Primrose being Reaped have anything to do with Katniss not being here?_

Meanwhile, Peeta saw commotion among the twelve-year-old girls. Soon the girl whom Peeta always saw with Katniss, stepped into the center aisle. She was small, as twelve-year-old girls were, and had long, golden hair styled into two braids. She tried to stand straight, but the effect was ruined because she was shaking.

Peeta remembered—

* * *

It was less than three months ago. Peeta looked out through the glass front door of Mellark's Bakery, and saw Katniss and her little sister standing outside the display window. Katniss's blond sister was pointing at a Peeta-decorated cake in the window and the girl was grinning. Katniss was grinning too. Peeta's heart felt pure joy, seeing Katniss grin.

* * *

Now four Peacekeepers surrounded Primrose, and she began the Walk of Doom.

The Square was silent; neither children nor their watching parents spoke a word. In utter silence, Primrose Everdeen was marched to the stairs that led up to the stage; in utter silence, Primrose slowly climbed the stairs.

Once Primrose was standing on the stage—

"Come over here, dear!" Effie called out, as she beckoned with a hand. "I need to talk to you."

Slowly the slump-shouldered child walked over to stand by Effie Trinket.

Effie said, "You're so _pretty!_ They will _love_ you in the Capitol."

"Thanks," Primrose murmured.

The Square remained silent. Mayor Undersee, looking sick, was silent. Haymitch Abernathy, looking disgusted, was silent.

If all the silence bothered the escort, she did not show it. In a cheery voice, she said, "Let's find out who _also_ will have the honor of representing District Twelve in the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games. Now for the boys."

Less than a minute later, Peeta himself was surrounded by Peacekeepers, Peeta himself was walking the Walk of Doom, and Peeta himself was trying not to cry when the cameras would show it.


	3. Right after the Reaping

**Chapter 3**  
 **Right after the Reaping**

In the Justice Building, Aloe Everdeen was her daughter Prim's first visitor.

Aloe informed Prim that Katniss was in Capitol Coal Medical Clinic, being tested. This was more than Aloe had expected from the doctor, since he was a Capitol. But neither Aloe nor Prim had any hope that the doctor would prescribe any precious Capitol medicine for Katniss—after all, he was a Capitol, and Katniss was a District Twelve girl who was not even a miner.

Aloe was allowed to spend only three minutes with her doomed younger daughter Prim. After a grumpy Peacekeeper told Aloe that she had to leave, she began the walk to the train station. She knew that she would not be allowed to talk to Prim at the train station, but Aloe _would_ watch her daughter board the train.

Aloe was trying not to cry. _In one week, two weeks at most, my husband and both my daughters will be dead_.

* * *

Prim's second visitor was Katniss's friend Gale Hawthorne.

After their hug, Prim said, "Gale, if Katniss lives till the beginning of the Games, be a good friend to her, _after_. _Please._ You and Madge are the only friends Katniss has."

Gale frowned. "Madge, yeah, I've never understood why Katniss—"

Then Gale stopped himself, and took a deep breath. "Prim, if it was Katniss here, I'd know what to say. I'd tell her what to do so she could win the Games—"

"Not _could_ win," Prim said proudly. "If Katniss was in the Games, she _would_ win." Prim giggled. "Those Careers would all die surprised."

"Yeah, well, you're not Katniss—"

"I know," Prim said sadly.

"—and all I can tell you is to _think_. You're a sweet girl, a kind girl, but if you go into the Games being _only_ sweet and kind, Prim, you will die. So _think_ , Prim."

* * *

Prim's fourth visitor was a total surprise: the mayor's daughter, Madge Undersee, who was Katniss's only other friend.

Madge asked where Katniss was, and why Katniss had missed the Reaping. Prim explained briefly.

Madge had surprised Prim just by visiting her. Madge surprised Prim again by asking, "Do you have a district token? A bracelet, pin, necklace, or ring you can wear with your uniform and that is from your district?"

Prim shook her head. "I used to have a wooden necklace when I was a little girl, but I broke it."

Madge reached into a pocket of her Reaping dress and pulled out a gold pin. Inside a circle was a bird in flight.

Prim gasped. "It's _beautiful_."

Madge nodded. "The bird is a mockingjay." Madge's eyes bored into Prim's. "Do you know what a mockingjay is?"

Prim smiled. "A whistler-bird. I remember Daddy teaching a mockingjay the beginning of 'The Miner and the Mine-Girl.' "

Madge nodded. "A mockingjay means more than that, but I don't have time to explain. Sometime when you're alone with Haymitch Abernathy—repeat, _alone_ with Haymitch—ask him what a mockingjay is."

"Okay," puzzled Prim replied.

"This pin that I'm giving you has quite a history," Madge said. She explained—

* * *

About forty years ago, Madge's grandmother, Sugar Mellark, took a gold bracelet that had been in her family for generations, and had it melted down and made into this pin. Grandmother Sugar was the most beautiful girl in District Twelve back then, and she wore the pin to parties and toastings—including her own toasting with Chawz Donner.

When Grandmother Sugar's daughter Maysilee was Reaped in the 50th Hunger Games, Grandmother Sugar "loaned" her daughter the pin. Maysilee Donner was wearing this pin when she was finally killed, ranking third in those Games.

When Maysilee's body was brought back to District Twelve, Madge's father Chonn, who was promised to Maysilee's twin sister Marribeth at the time, somehow got alone with Maysilee's box before it was buried. He removed the pin from the corpse's clothing and returned the pin to Grandmother Sugar. Since Chonn Undersee was not mayor then, he would have been hanged if he had been caught.

* * *

Now Prim asked Madge, "Why are you giving _me_ this pin? I'm nobody special."

Madge blushed. " _Honestly?_ I had a dream last night that I gave the pin to a blond Reaped girl whose face I couldn't see. Your hair is very blond."

As Prim accepted the pin, she looked into Madge's eyes and said, "I too dreamed about the Games last night. I was in the arena, and a laughing eighteen-year-old boy was about to kill me."

Madge sighed, her face grim.

* * *

Peeta's mother said to him, " _Try_ not to embarrass your family." The words _before you die_ were unspoken but were clearly implied.

* * *

Prim and Peeta were each given only one hour to say goodbye to friends and family. Then six Peacekeepers marched the two tributes out the back of the Justice Building, where a black car was waiting.

Another Peacekeeper was driving the car. Effie Trinket was waiting in the middle of the back seat.

As the car drove the short distance to the train station, Peeta and Prim each wept, while Effie chattered.

But while Prim and Peeta were weeping, each tribute was also thinking hard.


	4. The Dining Room

TO THE READERS: There is a detail from book-canon that the _Hunger Games_ movie doesn't have. Once Katniss and Peeta arrive at the train station, they have their pictures taken, but Peeta lets himself be photographed weeping. Katniss is surprised by this, that wrestler Peeta would do something so unmanly. Then Katniss decides that Peeta is already playing the Games, adopting a Johanna Mason-ish "I'm nobody to fear" strategy. It never occurs to Katniss that Peeta lets himself be photographed crying because he's wracked with despair and thinking, _I'm dead soon; what difference does it make if the photographers see me cry?_

 **Chapter 4**  
 **The Dining Room**

As soon as Prim climbed into the back seat of the car, she noticed the box of tissues that Effie Trinket was holding in her lap: pink paper tissues that came from a pink box. Any other time, Prim would have gotten excited about the box of tissues—Prim never saw _anything_ pink in Twelve—and Prim would be curious about why Effie had tissues. June was not cold and flu season in Twelve.

 _Any other time_ , Prim would be excited about the pink box of tissues. But now Prim gave the tissues barely a thought. Right now, Prim's heart was black with fear and sadness. In seven days, she would be dead! Prim wept as she had not wept since Daddy had died.

When the car arrived at the train station and the Peacekeeper driver turned off the engine, Effie said to him, "Septimus, don't open the door yet."

Effie pulled a tissue from the box and began to wipe Prim's tear-stained face. "Children, photographs of you will be taken before you board the train. _Do_ try to smile; pretty smiles now will bring you sponsors later."

Prim was not surprised that Peeta had been weeping alongside her. But Prim _was_ surprised by what Peeta did now—

Not waiting for one of Effie's tissues, Peeta ran his hands over his eyes and cheeks, then he wiped his hands on his pants. Peeta's movements were quick, sure, and efficient. _Practiced_.

By the time Peeta stepped out of the car and faced the Capitol photographer, formerly weeping Peeta looked like the happy Peeta whom Prim was used to seeing.

* * *

The Capitol photographer had blue-dyed skin and a 2-centimeter-thick monobrow. He did not spend much time taking photographs of District Twelve's new tributes, Prim noticed. He took a photo of Prim alone, a photo of smiling Peeta alone, a photo of Prim and smiling Peeta together; and was setting up a photo of Prim, smiling Peeta, Effie, and—

"Where's Haymitch?" the Capitol man grumped.

Effie pursed her lips, then pasted on a fake smile. "Remember, he fell off the stage and hit his head?" Then Effie added casually, "The Peacekeepers took him away. I'm sure he's fine."

Both Prim and Peeta gave Effie sharp looks. Prim was shocked that Effie seemed truly unworried. Prim knew, even at the age of twelve, that in the districts, if Peacekeepers took someone away, he or she would not be "fine" afterward. Prim wondered, _Maybe Peacekeepers act differently in the Capitol?_

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Effie Trinket stepped with assurance onto the train's last car's stairs. "Come, children," she said cheerfully.

Peeta looked around. He saw his father and his brothers (but not his mother) standing behind a cordon at the train-station platform. Also standing behind the cordon: Mrs. Everdeen (but not Katniss, which was _very_ odd), Madge Undersee and Delly Cartwright, boys on Peeta's wrestling team as well as Coach Darby, and _lots_ of twelve-year-olds.

The people behind the cordon were as silent as mourners at a funeral. The only sounds that Peeta heard came from the train engine up front.

Standing on this side of the cordon—standing just two meters away from Prim and Peeta, in fact—were ten _helmeted_ Peacekeepers. The Peacekeepers' tense stances sent a clear message: _Go ahead, we_ _dare_ _you to try and run for it!_

Peeta decided that the smart choice, under the circumstances, was to board the train. Primrose Everdeen, clearly no dummy, followed right behind.

* * *

The last train car was one big dining room. Effie stood in the middle of the room, facing Prim and Peeta and smiling. "Children, during the train ride, you each have a bedroom filled with clothing for you. _Please_ let me know if something doesn't quite fit. Are you hungry now?"

Peeta had been staring in amazement—no, _shock_ —at the foods inside the dining room. Fruits of every kind, meats of every kind, and pastries that Peeta could only _dream_ of!

Prim said, her voice sounding just as amazed, "Peeta, this is like the display window at Mellark's Bakery, times a hundred!"

"Yes it is," Peeta said, smiling.

Then Peeta's smile vanished when he remembered that if anyone in his family had actually _eaten_ anything in the display window, that Mellark would have been arrested and executed.

"Who's this food for?" Peeta cautiously asked Effie; he expected the answer to be _Capitol employees on the train_. Prim had a bunch of grapes already in hand; Peeta felt the urge to yell, "Prim, put the grapes _down!_ "

Effie smiled a big smile. "The food is for _you_ , children!"

"Why?" Peeta asked, confused.

"Because you two have the _special honor_ of representing District Twelve in the Hunger Games this year."

" 'Special honor,' huh?" Peeta asked. Effie's big smile became brittle.

" _Peeta!_ " Prim said, her voice joyous. "C'mon, don't be all prickly like Gale Hawthorne. There is _food_ here, and we _get to eat it!_ "

Then Prim asked Effie, "We _can_ eat all we want, right? Or is there a limit?"

"If you eat too much, too fast, you'll get sick," Effie replied. She smiled: "Otherwise, no limit."

Prim nodded. "I read about this in a book once. But I never expected to actually need to worry about this."

Peeta felt a lurch then. When he looked out the window, he saw that the train platform was moving toward the rear of the train. Effie glanced at her watch, picked up a flatpad, and tapped something into it.

Still holding her flatpad, Effie said, "Children, I've scheduled half an hour for you to eat and to—to reflect. Beginning in half an hour, I will begin your lessons in manners."

"In _manners?_ " Prim said. "Why manners?"

Peeta said, "Shouldn't we be learning how to survive and maybe even _win_ in the Games?" Then Peeta realized something. "Where _is_ Haymitch Abernathy, anyway? Did he miss the train?"

Effie walked over to a bright-red wall telephone and spoke with someone. Soon she hung up the telephone and walked back to Prim and Peeta.

Instead of a smile, Effie now was wearing a pinched-lips frown. "He is on the train, and is conscious, but he is—he's in another car."

Effie walked toward a sliding door at the other end of the dining car. "I'll find out how he is. Stay here, children."

* * *

Prim then did something that would have been unthinkable to her, only two hours ago. Prim was a people-pleaser; speaking up for herself in matters outside of medicine was _hard_. Add to that, she had absorbed with her mother's milk, the teaching that "Asking a Capitol for anything is a waste of time at best, and dangerous at worst." Add to _that_ , how many times had Prim heard Gale rant, "Capitols are not to be trusted"?

But a little over an hour ago, this same Gale Hawthorne had told Prim to _think_. And part of _thinking_ , Prim realized, was challenging lifelong beliefs and lifelong ways of acting.

So now Prim did the unthinkable: She asserted herself to a Capitol. As Effie was mincing across the dining room in her high heels, Prim said, "Miss Trinket, please don't call us 'children.' You know our names."

Peeta shot Prim a surprised look. Then he said to Effie, "If Prim and I were _real_ children—eleven or younger—we wouldn't be here. Thank you in advance."

Effie beamed. "How well-mannered you two are! Very well, chil—Primrose and Peeta, I will not call you 'children' anymore."

With those words, Effie went through the sliding door and was gone from the dining room.

Prim stood there amazed. _Effie didn't refuse, and she didn't order me arrested. A Capitol did what I asked!_

Peeta broke the silence by clearing his throat. "Prim, I need to tell you something important."

* * *

 **An instant later**

Peeta said to Prim, "I've had a crush on Katniss since I was _five_. I've never told her this, but I love her with all my heart."

" _Whoa_ ," Prim said.

"I know that in the Games, the Capitol expects the rule to be, 'Every man for himself.' But Prim, I refuse to be only a piece in their Games. If it were Katniss here with me, instead of you, I'd do _everything I could_ so that Katniss would win. I'd _give my life_ so that Katniss would win."

"You love her that much?"

"Yes, I do."

"But why are you telling _me_ this? Katniss isn't here, _I_ am."

"I tell you now that for Katniss's sake, I will strive _with everything I have_ , to keep her beloved sister alive. With my last breath, I will protect you, Prim."

" _Whoa_ ," Prim said.

* * *

 **A minute later**

Effie stepped into the dining car and announced, "Mr. Abernathy will be here in a minute, Primrose and Peeta."

Peeta saw that Effie's smile was fake, unlike her smile of a minute ago.

As promised, a little over a minute later, Haymitch entered the dining car. He had a red bump on his forehead—and for some reason, his hair and part of his shirt were wet.

Prim asked, "Mr. Abernathy, what do I do when a Career tries to attack me?"

Peeta asked, "What kind of deadly counterattacks can you teach me?"

Prim said, "Mr. Abernathy, what can kill us in the arena besides Careers and mutts?"

But Haymitch did not answer any questions. In fact, he was ignoring the tributes. He had picked up a glass as soon as he had walked into the dining room, and now he was searching the tables for something.

"Mr. Abernathy?" Prim said, in a high voice. When Peeta glanced at her, he saw that Prim's lip was trembling.

"Hold on, _hold on_ , sweetheart," Haymitch said, while still not looking toward the tributes. "I don't feel well, and we have _seven days_ for me to answer your questions."

Peeta asked, "Then why are you here, if not to talk to us?"

Instead of answering the question, Haymitch asked his own question: "Princess, where's the ice bucket?"

Effie pursed her lips and pointed to the corner of the dining room that was by the sliding door. She said, "Haymitch Abernathy, the chil—Primrose and Peeta are waiting for advice from their mentor."

Haymitch now was filling his glass with ice cubes. For one second, Peeta was amazed—he had never seen actual ice cubes before. Then Peeta came back to the moment. He said, "Miss Trinket is right. We need to know how to survive everything."

Haymitch replied with a vague gesture that probably meant _Go away_. He carried his ice-filled glass over to a different table, picked up a plate, and began loading snow-white donuts onto the plate.

Now at last, Haymitch looked at Peeta. " _Mmm_ , powdered donuts. I _love_ these things, but Twelve's one bakery doesn't sell them."

While Peeta fumed, Haymitch loaded up his plate, then walked over to a glass-doors cabinet that was set high up on a wall. Peeta at sixteen would have to stand on tiptoes to reach the doors of that odd cabinet, and Prim couldn't reach it at all.

From the cabinet, Haymitch removed a bottle of brown liquid. He shut the cabinet doors, tucked the bottle of brown liquid under his arm, picked up his ice-filled glass and his plate of powdered donuts, and walked over to the sliding door.

"You're _leaving?_ " Peeta said. "You just got here!" Then Peeta _moved_.

Haymitch should never have mentioned Mellark's Bakery not selling powdered donuts.

* * *

Haymitch was trying to not drop the bottle under his arm, to hold onto the plate of powdered donuts, to hold onto his glass, and to work the handle of the sliding door. Peeta knew that _in theory_ Haymitch was a deadly killer, but right now, he seemed like a fool-character in a Capitol comedy hologram.

Peeta pasted on a fake smile. "Let me help you with that." He walked up to Haymitch—

—but instead of opening the sliding door, Peeta grabbed the bottle of liquor with both hands, Peeta yanked the bottle clear of Haymitch's armpit, then Peeta ran the length of the dining room.

Haymitch was chasing Peeta, but Haymitch was not close enough. Peeta yanked open the rear door of the dining room (which started an alarm blaring), and threw the bottle down to shatter against a railroad rail.

Behind Peeta, Haymitch screamed.

Arms wrapped around Peeta's chest, he was dragged back into the dining room, and the rear door was kicked shut (which silenced the alarm).

Haymitch slammed Peeta against that shut rear door. "What the _fuck_ , boy?" Haymitch sounded ready to kill.

Peeta easily broke Haymitch's hold—Peeta's brothers had put him in worse holds, from toddlerhood; and Peeta had learned how to escape.

Then Peeta answered, his own voice just as angry: "Powdered sugar is _expensive_. Mellark's Bakery could make your donuts, and we could sell them with a markup. But District Twelve is _poor_. So the markup would have to be small. Bottom line: If Mellark's sold powdered donuts, our profit would be less, so _Mother_ has decreed that we shall not sell them."

"Yeah, your mother, she—"

"I'm not done talking!" Peeta yelled. "Want to know the _one good thing_ about being Reaped? Mother is a bully; but one way or the other, I'll never have to put up with her _shit_ ever again. But I _will not accept_ taking replacement shit from the _joke_ of District Twelve. Also, you almost made Prim _cry_. You have a job to do here; now _do it!_ "

Peeta had needed to yell this last part, because the dining room had somehow developed a loud _slurping_ sound. Haymitch looked to Peeta's left, and it seemed that Haymitch's face instantly turned white. Haymitch yelled, "Princess, what are you _doing?_ "

Peeta, who was still backed up against the dining room's rear door, now looked around.

Peeta had not even noticed that the dining room had several windows along its side walls—now one of those windows was open. With the train moving 400 km/h, the suction-sound from that window was _loud_.

Underneath the liquor cabinet, Prim (who was standing on a chair) was removing liquor bottles and handing them to Effie. Effie was carrying the bottles to the window and throwing the bottles out the window.

To add to the noise, the bright-red telephone was ringing nonstop.

When the window was shut (and silent) again, Effie walked over to the bright-red telephone and answered it. Meanwhile, Prim carried her chair back to the dining table. As Prim carried the chair, she said, "Cirrhosis of the liver is a nasty way to die, Mr. Abernathy. I've seen what it does to a man."

Effie hung up the telephone and turned to face Haymitch. She said, "Haymitch, I've been wanting to toss your booze for eleven years. But theses tributes have _more courage_ than I do. _Both_ of them." Effie shot Haymitch a look.

Haymitch repeated, "More courage, Effie? _Hm_."

Peeta suspected that a message had just passed between his mentor and his escort.


	5. Healing Katniss

In the first _Hunger Games_ movie, in the flashback scene where young Peeta tosses the burned bread to young Katniss under the tree, I see three errors in that scene—

1) Peeta's hair is chocolate brown, not blond;

2) the scene is played by both of the regular actors, who are in their twenties, when the characters are both eleven at the time;

3) Katniss's hair at age eleven is shown to be styled in the single braid that she wears at age sixteen, rather than the double braids that Katniss wore at age five and that Prim wears at age twelve. Katniss at age eleven probably wore her hair in double braids.

 **Chapter 5**  
 **Healing Katniss**

 **Capitol Coal Medical Clinic  
** **District Twelve**

Dr. Picardo asked the district healer, "Why are you crying?"

Mrs. Everdeen replied, "Because Prim, my baby and Katniss's younger sister, is now on the train to the Capitol. She's been Reaped."

Dr. Picardo said, "I'm—" He almost said _I'm sorry_ , but caught himself in time. Instead, the doctor said, "I can see this is painful for you."

Mrs. Everdeen nodded, then she took a deep, shaky breath. "I came here for Katniss. How can I help you with Katniss, doctor?"

"Come with me and I'll show you."

Five minutes later, both the doctor and Mrs. Everdeen had scrubbed up, and Dr. Picardo had rolled a machine up to Katniss's bed. "This is a blood-filtering machine. It will filter out whichever molecules, bacteria, and viruses I tell it to."

"Very useful to have."

"The one they use at Victor Health Hospital taps into the inferior vena cava in two places—"

The district healer gasped. "And that doesn't _instantly_ kill the patient?"

"Not when they do everything right. And to be certified, they spend several hundred hours doing virtual-reality simulations, and several tens of hours observing the procedure. Anyway, this isn't the machine that Victor Health Hospital uses, and I don't have the training to use that machine. I wish I did—those doctors could clean all the junk out of Miss Everdeen's bloodstream in _one hour_."

"So what does the machine here do differently than the machine in the Capitol?"

"This machine filters blood too, but using a much smaller vein: the vein in her left arm at the elbow. The advantage is, any nurse can insert the two specialized needles—"

"—any nurse, or any experienced District Twelve healer."

"Good, I was _hoping_ you would tell me that. For several reasons, I don't want to call my nurse in for this."

"What is the downside of using this machine?" Mrs. Everdeen asked. "What are the risks?"

" _If_ I have given the machine correct filtration criteria, the risks are almost nothing. But I don't think incorrect filtration criteria will be a problem, because I've spent over an hour cataloguing your daughter's bloodstream. The downside of using this machine is not the _risk_ of the procedure, but the _slowness_ of the procedure. You can _forget_ any one-hour cure!"

Mrs. Everdeen looked worried. "How long will it take? Before Katniss has clean blood?"

Dr. Picardo sighed. "Best case? Twelve hours. Worst case? Twenty-four."

Mrs. Everdeen said, "Let's get started."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Dining room, District Twelve tribute train**

Haymitch needed a drink. Even worse, he didn't have any kind of drink in reach.

Linus Baxter, who was Head Peacekeeper for the D12 tribute train's Peacekeeper detachment, was clearly trying not to grin and laugh at Haymitch. Baxter, just as clearly, was not quite succeeding.

"Young man," Head Peacekeeper Baxter said to Peeta, "in the future, don't open the rear door unless the train is _stopped_. You made us pause our poker game." Baxter gestured to the three silent (but smirking) Peacekeepers standing behind him.

Baxter added, "Even though _I_ think thinning out Victor Abernathy's liquor counts as a _good deed_." Now Baxter _did_ laugh.

Peeta, once Baxter had told him he was not going to be shot or whipped, had begun to smile. Now he was smiling like a teenaged Caesar Flickerman. "I promise, Head Peacekeeper, I will not toss bottles of bourbon out the rear door of the train anymore. Mainly because Prim and Effie already got rid of the rest of the stash."

Baxter looked at Haymitch. "It's nineteen more hours till this train reaches the Capitol. With its bars and liquor stores. Until then, you're in for a rough ride."

Baxter grinned as he pointed to the door, and the four Peacekeepers left the dining car.

Peeta walked back to the dining table, which was where Haymitch, Effie, and Prim were sitting. Peeta looked in surprise at Prim, who had undone her braids and now was finger-combing her hair. "Prim, what's up with your hair?"

Haymitch said, "I was wondering too, but I figured Sweetheart would throw my powdered donuts out the window if I asked."

Prim pulled her hair in front of her left shoulder and started to braid her hair. "In my family, little girls wear their hair in two braids. Big girls wear their hair in one braid. Katniss began to wear her hair in one braid when she started to"—Prim glanced at Effie—"when she was eleven. I became a big girl when Miss Trinket drew my name, so I'm wearing big-girl hair from now on." Prim added, "If Katniss sees me like this, she'll understand."

* * *

 _Katniss changed her hair when she became a huntress. Prim has become a huntress too_ —this was the unspoken message that Haymitch heard.

Haymitch glanced at Peeta. Judging from Peeta's suddenly grim expression, Peeta also heard that message.

Prim must have seen something in Haymitch's and Peeta's faces. "Oh, I'm not going to become a Career, attacking outer-district kids. The fact is, I won't attack _anyone_ unless he or she attacks me first."

Haymitch shook his head. "This sounds very sweet and nice, sweetheart, unless we're talking about a Career. If you wait till a Career attacks first, you won't be alive to attack back. _I_ say, attack any Career as soon as you can, even if he's not paying attention to you. Killing him in his sleep would be best."

Prim looked pained. "But if I do _that_ , I'm no better than they are."

"Sweetheart, listen to one who knows: A long life beats a clean conscience. Sorry, but you can't have both anymore."

Peeta said, "But if they make Prim be something she's not, she loses something that being bathed in riches can't put back."

Prim jutted her chin out. "Annie Cresta won _her_ Games without killing anyone."

Haymitch shrugged. "Through an unforeseen chain of events. Nobody like Annie Cresta will win again; the Gamemakers will make sure of it. Bottom line, Peeta, Prim: To live through this, you must _murder_ other kids."

Prim looked sad: "I'm not sure I can do that."

At that moment, Haymitch mentally scratched twelve-year-old Prim's name off his list.

But Peeta, _he_ had a chance, Haymitch decided, if Peeta came into the Games with a hunter's attitude. Peeta looked strong and fit, and he was a charmer who could build alliances as easily as he breathed. Yes, _yes_ , Peeta maybe could _actually_ —

Peeta now was wearing a solemn expression. "Haymitch, Miss Trinket, I need to tell you something. I'm in love with Prim's sister Katniss. So in the Games, I will act as bodyguard for Prim, even though it will get me killed."

Haymitch slapped a palm against his forehead.

Prim said, "I didn't ask for a bodyguard, but now I feel much better about my chances. Peeta wrestles in high school. Katniss went to one of Peeta's wrestling meets, and she told me Peeta is a _great_ wrestler."

Haymitch said, "Kid, change your mind, _please_. The Careers don't expect a D12 boy to know wrestling moves—"

"—especially the _illegal_ moves," Peeta said.

"—exactly! Do you know what the Careers' weakness is, _every_ year? They're overconfident. That's how Mason won."

Prim squared her shoulders and said, "I'd be willing to die, if Peeta then became Victor."

" _No!_ " Peeta said. "Out of the question!"

Peeta still was looking at Prim. Now he grinned. "Katniss went to one of my meets? Afterward, she said I was a great wrestler? _Wow_."

Haymitch slapped his palm against his forehead again. " _Focus_ , boy."

Prim, her hair-braiding finished, now clasped her hands together on the table. "Mr. Abernathy, please tell Peeta and me every smart thing, and every stupid thing, you've ever seen a tribute do in the Games."

* * *

 **Three hours later**

Haymitch was saying, "...ultimate rule: Stay alive."

Both tributes nodded. Peeta said, " _This_ will be easy to remember."

"That's it, I've said all the mentor-wisdom I can say till you two are about to go down to the Training Center. Now I'm going to hand you over to Effie, who has been very patient while we three have _trashed_ her schedules. Peeta, Prim, I give you Effie Trinket, who will teach you manners."

Prim said, "We're going to be fighting to the death in a few days, and you two want us to learn _manners?_ Why?"

Haymitch said, "Because once you get in the Games, you will need water, food, and weapons for sure; you'll probably also need medicine. The way you get anything in the Games is by finding it, being given it by the Gamemakers, stealing it from a live tribute, stealing it from a dead tribute, or by me buying it and sending it to you. You two with me so far?"

Peeta and Prim nodded.

"Don't count on finding much, unless you go close to the Cornucopia, which will almost certainly get you killed. Gamemakers are stingy at giving you what you need; if they seem generous, the stuff is probably a deadly trick. Stealing stuff from a live tribute doesn't happen often. Stealing from a dead tribute gets you stuff more often if you're the person willing to kill him." Prim looked green at this. "This leaves only the silver parachutes. But for me to buy you something, I have to have money. Well, the Gamemakers don't give me a single PD; _all_ the money I spend comes from sponsor donations. Effie?"

Effie smiled at Haymitch, then smiled at the tributes. "Sponsors give money to whom they think will win, but they also give money to tributes they _like_. Sponsors like tributes who are well mannered, who wear clothes well—"

Peeta said, "By 'sponsors,' you mean _Capitol_ sponsors, right? You're not talking about what _District Twelve_ sponsors want from us."

Haymitch said, "District Twelve sponsors, all _they_ want is that you come home _alive_ , boy. District Twelve doesn't give a fuck whether you can wear a suit with panache."

Effie sighed theatrically. "Unfortunately, District Twelve doesn't contribute much; almost all of your donations will come from Capitol sponsors. But before I continue, Peeta, you should know that you interrupted me a moment ago, which is _rude_."

Peeta blushed. "Sorry."

Prim said, "What I hear you saying, Miss Trinket, is that to get more sponsor money, we should look and act like little Capitols. Except that everyone knows we _aren't_ little Capitols, because _we_ must battle to the death."

Effie looked embarrassed. "Yes."

Haymitch stood up. "With this, I leave you to Effie and to her kind of training. I'm going back to my room."

Prim said, "Not to drink, I hope."

Haymitch laughed a sour laugh. "They still have water on this train, sweetheart. And books. I'm hoping there is a 'Peacekeeper Detective Lewis' mystery I haven't read."

Haymitch had walked most of the way across the dining room, and almost to the sliding door, when Effie said, "Haymitch, you're a great mentor when you try to be."

Haymitch just stared at his escort, with no idea what to say.

He certainly was _not_ going to admit to her now that right after he had arrived late to the Reaping, he had hugged Effie _deliberately_ while the cameras were rolling, as a prank to mind-fuck the uptight Capitol bitch.

At last he replied to now-Effie, "I apologize for hugging you on stage during the Reaping. I embarrassed you, yeah? That was bad."

Effie looked shocked for a second. Then she smiled like she had just been transferred to District Two.

* * *

 **The next morning  
** **The District Twelve tribute train**

Haymitch sat Prim and Peeta down by the holoprojector. He wanted them to study the other tributes going into these Games.

In District 1, an ordinary-looking brunette girl was Reaped, then she was volunteered-for by Glimmer. Glimmer was beautiful, deadly, arrogantly confident, and wholeheartedly sexy.

Prim thought, _Glimmer is what Katniss would be if Katniss were blond, evil, and a complete slut_.

Next it was time to pick the District 1 boy tribute. The boy chosen was a tall, muscular, unsmiling boy. Prim thought, _He'll be tough to beat_. But he also was volunteered-for, by a Career boy named Marvel—

Prim's heart raced, and she stared. Marvel looked _exactly_ like the gloating Career boy of Prim's dream. The boy who was about to kill her!

Prim spent another half-hour with her eyes pointed toward Haymitch's holographic projections, but her brain did not see any of the other tributes.

 _I've seen the face of my killer_ , Prim kept thinking.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Capitol Coal Medical Clinic, District Twelve**

Katniss opened her eyes, and realized that she could not move her left arm.

Katniss made a twisting sit-up—which caused a moment's dizziness—and she saw that she could not move her arm because it was strapped to a board that was attached to a stainless-steel railing at the side of her bed. Two tubes, each filled with a dark-red liquid, rose from her left elbow and went into a humming stainless-steel machine.

Beyond the machine were walls painted pale green. By those walls were two cots. On one cot slept Katniss's mother. A bald man slept on the other cot; Katniss recognized him, but her memories of him were ... confused.

"Mother?" Katniss said.

Within two seconds, Mother and the bald man were both awake and on their feet.

"How do you feel?" Mother asked Katniss, Mother's voice overlapping with the man's same question.

"I hurt a bunch of different places below the waist, my left hand hurts, my whole body feels 'off,' and I feel cold."

"You probably still have a fever," the bald man said. "May I take your temperature, Miss Everdeen?"

"Are you a doctor?" Katniss asked.

Mother said, "Katniss, this is Dr. Josephus Picardo, the mine-company doctor. He's who is cleaning up your blood. He did most of your stitchwork."

The doctor slipped a thermometer under Katniss's tongue. Mother used a mercury-bulb thermometer; the doctor used an electronic thermometer with a corkscrew cord at the other end.

After three minutes, the doctor pulled the thermometer out and read the number on a screen. "Miss Everdeen, you're 37.9°—still sick, but much better than you were."

Katniss gestured with her right hand toward her immobilized left arm. "If I have a fever and I'm tied to this bed, does this mean I get to miss the Reaping?"

Katniss saw the doctor and Mother exchange unhappy looks. Then Mother said, "Katniss, the Reaping was yesterday. That's why you're here—Cray demanded that Dr. Picardo examine you."

A dark suspicion jumped into Katniss's head. "Mother, where is Prim? Why isn't she here? Is she with a patient?"

Mother and the doctor exchanged another unhappy look. Then Mother said sadly, "Prim was Reaped. She is on the train to the Capitol."

Katniss stared in horror. "If I had been there, I would have volunteered for her. In a heartbeat. But the Reaping—I missed it, I totally missed it."

Katniss wailed, "Oh Mother, I'm a bad sister." She gestured down to her lower body, with its bandaged and sutured wounds. "If I hadn't—"

" _Katniss!_ " Mother said forcefully. "It's not your fault you were injured. It's not your fault you missed the Reaping. Don't blame yourself for any of this."

It took fifteen seconds for Katniss to take control of her guilt and despair. Then she asked, "Who was the other one? The boy." Katniss thought, _Hopefully it's someone I don't know well. An eighteen-year-old boy BUT NOT GALE!_

Mother said, "The boy was Peeta Mellark, the youngest son of Cake Mellark by his wife Medea."

Katniss said, "She beats him. Peeta."

"She does. Even worse, Medea has never let me treat his injuries."

"Because she's a witch."

Mother stared at the wall. "Yes, I'm sure that's the reason."

Katniss sighed deeply. "So along with Prim, Peeta Mellark is going into the Games." _Five years ago, he was the Boy with the Bread, my last hope. I never thanked him, much less paid him back, and now he's going to die!_

Katniss dropped back onto her pillow. Aloud, she said, "Prim _and_ Peeta. Fuck, fuck, _fuck!_ "

Dr. Picardo moved over to his medical machine and began checking its readings—in silence. Mother began checking Katniss's bandages for loose tape—in silence. Katniss silently lay in bed and cried.

In all the silence, it was easy to hear the two female voices that came from the other side of the door—female voices with Capitol accents.

* * *

Katniss heard Woman A ask, "Did you enjoy your day off yesterday?"

Woman B replied, "Are you kidding? Hooray, the mine was closed, but the monkeys"—district people—"closed their stores too, and what else is there to do in District Twelve besides shop? So I watched the Reaping. Shows you how bored I was."

Woman A said, "Oh, I _love_ to watch a Reaping! The drama, the suspense! And this year, I got to watch a Reaping _live_."

Woman B said, "You can have it. I've seen two Reapings now, and it _galls_ me how the monkey children sniffle and trudge when their names are called. They should be _honored_ that they're allowed to atone for their great-grandparents' evils. And we even _pay_ the monkey who wins! Not that Haymitch Abernathy deserves even one PD, that drunk."

Woman A said, "Well, he did win against twice the number of tributes, his year."

Woman B said, "I suppose. Listen, Urbania, I need to set up the clinic before Dr. Picardo and the miner monkeys show up."

Quickly Dr. Picardo unfolded a pale-green bedsheet, and covered Katniss's wounded, naked lower body with the sheet.

Two seconds later, the door opened. A woman with lavender-tinted skin who wore nurse's scrubs, walked through the door.

"Dr. Picardo!" she said in surprise.

"Good morning, Antonia," the doctor said coolly.

* * *

 **One second later**

Dr. Picardo sighed. Antonia was annoying at the best of times, and this was not the best of times.

Antonia looked past Dr. Picardo, and her eyes narrowed. "Doctor, who are these people? Are they miners? Capitol Coal management has made it clear: We are to treat only miners." Her tone of voice said _Young ma_ _n, I must now inform your mother that I caught you with your hand in the cookie jar_.

Dr. Picardo said, "The younger woman is Katniss Everdeen. Head Peacekeeper Cray ordered me yesterday to examine her, to determine whether she was within seven days of death. During a Reaping, Cray has authority to do this. The other woman is Aloe Everdeen, Katniss's mother and the district healer. Aloe and Katniss, this is Antonia Wilson, my nurse."

Katniss said, "I'd say 'Pleased to meet you,' except that I don't like to lie, plus we _monkeys_ don't have good manners."

Antonia said to Katniss, "You don't look like you were close to death yesterday."

Aloe Everdeen said, "Which proves you're not qualified for the job you hold, dear."

Antonia said, "I will not stand here and be insulted by some _monkey herbs-witch!_ "

Dr. Picardo said, "You are correct, Antonia, you will not stand here. I am sending you home today _without_ pay. It doesn't matter whether the patient is Pierre Leeg"—the mayor of District Thirteen during the Dark Days, and thus the evilest of villains to Capitols—"our job here is to treat every patient with respect and care. We do not sneer behind anyone's back that he or she is a 'monkey,' _am I clear?_ "

Antonia said, "You can't dock my pay for something I said before I started work! I'm filing a complaint with upper management."

Dr. Picardo laughed cruelly. "Do you think the men in suits will pass up a chance to not pay you wages, even if only for one day? Now _go_ , _leave_ , I don't want to see you here at the clinic till 8:30 tomorrow morning. At that time, we will discuss your future."

"Before you go, _Nurse_ Antonia," Katniss said, "I have just one more thing to say to you." Then Katniss performed a very loud, and utterly perfect, imitation of a chimpanzee mating call.

Antonia turned on her heel and marched out of the room, slamming the door.

* * *

 **An instant later**

A voice then sounded from a speaker in the ceiling: "Attention everyone, this is Domiducus Jones. The District Twelve Tribute Train has arrived in the Capitol. Good job, everybody; you can relax now."

Dr. Picardo looked over at the two Everdeen women. They were not relaxing now—quite the opposite.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Track 12A at the train station  
** **The Capitol**

Just before Prim and Peeta stepped off the train to greet their adoring Capitol fans(!), both tributes cornered Haymitch.

Twelve's Victor was ordered, "As soon as you can get to a telephone, find out how Katniss is!"


	6. The Tribute Parade, and Before

**Chapter 6**  
 **The Tribute Parade, and Before**

 **Minutes later  
** **Track 12A at the train station  
** **The Capitol**

Primrose was having the time of her life. _Strangers knew her name!_ Some Capitols had even noticed that she had changed her hair since the Reaping. As Prim signed autographs, she was grinning like a fool.

Peeta ended his talk with three starry-eyed teenaged Capitol girls, and walked over to Prim. Peeta also was grinning widely. "You doing okay?" Peeta quietly asked Prim.

Prim grinned as she replied, "Being a celebrity is _wonderful!_ Being 'bathed in riches' is fine, but I want to be a Victor so I can get _this_ for the rest of my life!"

A young woman with gold-foil eyebrows thrust a baby at Prim. "Will you please kiss my baby, Primrose?"

Prim smiled at the woman, even as she handed the baby back. "It wouldn't be healthy for your baby, ma'am. But thank you for asking!"

Peeta put his arm around Prim's shoulders then. Raising his voice to be heard, Peeta said, "People of the Capitol, know that Prim and I not only come from the same district, but we're _friends_ now. We found out we both feel close to the same person."

"Who's the person?" someone asked.

Peeta shook his head. "Stay tuned. You'll find out _in time_."

 _Aww_ went the crowd.

Prim asked, "Are we a team, Peeta, besides being friends?"

Peeta looked down at her, still grinning. " _Yes_ , Prim, you and I are a _team_. We are the _District Twelve_ team."

The Capitol crowd cheered.

The crowd parted, and Effie Trinket stepped forward. Prim, still feeling beloved, popular, and invincible, walked over and took Effie's hand. Prim yelled, "People of the Capitol, this is Effie Trinket, our escort. Contact her to make sponsor pledges."

The crowd applauded, as someone yelled, "GO EFFIE!" Both Peeta and Effie looked at Prim in amazement.

But Effie had been working crowds for years. With no pause at all, Effie raised her own voice and said, "That's right, contact me or Haymitch Abernathy, the winner of the Second Quarter Quell"—Effie paused for the applause—"about pledging money to our tributes. District Twelve will surprise you this year, people! But now, I must take these two blond charmers away, to meet their _stylist_."

This brought applause, but a voice in the crowd asked, "Who's their stylist?"

"Florius Donaldson," Effie answered. The name meant nothing to Prim.

A different voice in the crowd sneered, "Oh sheesh, 'Glorious Florius' is their stylist? Or just _Peeta's?_ "

Prim's smile dimmed a little.

* * *

Florius Donaldson had eggplant-purple hair, eggplant-purple shaped eyebrows, lavender skin, a lavender shirt, an eggplant-purple pinstripe suit, and a sunflower-yellow tie.

Prim and Peeta spent ten minutes with him, of which Florius spent maybe half a minute talking to Prim. Peeta, on the other hand, seemed to fascinate the man—Florius _talked and talked_ about Peeta's blond hair, his flat stomach, and his big shoulders.

Five minutes in, Haymitch walked into the meeting. He made a joke as he walked in, "I'm here so you don't bother Sweetheart too much, Florius," but it was _Peeta_ who smiled with relief.

Florius wanted to dye both tributes' hair lavender, for the Tribute Parade and the Games both. Prim felt panic when Effie applauded the idea—and looking at Peeta, Prim could tell that he felt panic too.

But Haymitch firmly refused any hair-dyeing. Prim fought the urge to hug him.

Prim asked Florius, "Can you tell us anything about our costumes for the Tribute Parade?"

Haymitch glared at the stylist and said, "Naked with coal dust is _out_. Don't try it."

" _Of course_ it's out, Haymitch!" Florius replied. " 'Style' is clothing, hairstyling, and makeup as _art_ ; and coal dust isn't _style_ , it's a stylist collecting his bonus."

Haymitch looked puzzled. "What do you mean by 'bonus'?"

Florius said, "The stylist gets a bonus if he can costume the two tributes for less than five hundred PDs. Four chunks of coal, and renting the machine to grind the coal into coal dust, costs less than twenty-five PDs. You didn't know?"

Haymitch said, "So all that talk about 'stylistic choices' was just bullshit, yeah?" Florius shrugged.

Prim wanted to scream. "So District Twelve tributes have been _publicly humiliated_ , just so their stylist could pocket a few extra PDs? This is _so wrong_."

Florius looked uncomfortable at Prim's outburst. He said, "Children, you need to go to the Remake Center now."

Prim looked at Haymitch. He nodded.

* * *

From Mandatory Viewing, Prim already knew that Gamemakers were cruel. In the Remake Center, Prim learned that the three members of her Prep Team could be just as cruel. Getting her eyebrows plucked _hurt_ , and her Prep Team scrubbed her as if they were trying to bare her skeleton.

And Prim got off _lightly_. Being a twelve-year-old girl, Prim did not have as much body hair as Peeta had, especially in certain places. Also, Peeta had had many burn-scars and calluses, and he reported with a grimace that all those scars and calluses had been removed—painfully.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Capitol Coal Medical Clinic  
** **District Twelve**

Dr. Picardo pulled the thermometer out of Katniss's mouth, then checked its display. "It's 37.0°, Miss Everdeen. I'm discharging you."

Katniss's mother said, "Um, all she has to dress in, is the blanket off her bed that she came here in."

The solution soon devised was that Katniss would wait in the clinic's waiting room, wrapped in her blanket, while Mother went home and fetched Katniss's clothes.

Katniss held up a hand. "Before you take me to the waiting room, doctor, tell me: _What do I owe you?_ "

Dr. Picardo looked confused. " _What?_ You don't owe me a thing. It's _Capitol Coal_ who pays for this clinic; we don't bill patients." In a lower voice, he added, "In District Twelve, none of them could pay."

Katniss waved this away. "Yesterday, Cray brought you to me and told you, 'Figure out if she's really sick.' That's all you had to do—and really, it's all anyone in District Twelve _expected_ you to do. You could have said, 'Katniss officially is close to dying,' walked away, and left me for Mother to treat. But you and Darius brought me here on my own bedsheet, you and Mother cleaned me up and sewed me up, and you used your blood-filter gizmo to make me well. All this was extra, and I owe you for _all_ of this extra. So _what do you expect as payment?_ "

Katniss tensed, and she saw Mother tense too. Because Katniss was ready to become the doctor's whore if that were the payment he demanded.

The doctor replied in a casual voice, "Miss Everdeen—"

Mother said, "Doctor, among Seam people here, owing someone for a favor is a _big deal_. Her question, it's important to Katniss."

Katniss saw Dr. Picardo's face get serious; at last he _got it_. He said, " _Listen_ to me, Miss Everdeen. You. Owe. Me. Nothing. _Nothing_. I didn't become a doctor to be owed favors. Do you agree, Mrs. Everdeen?"

"Yes, absolutely," Mother said.

Frustrated Katniss said, "But I can't let you do all this for me without giving back _something!_ "

Dr. Picardo said, "So you want me to demand a payment? Here it is—"

Katniss tensed.

The doctor continued, "The day I leave here, be at the train station to see me off. When I see you there, still alive and healthy _X_ months or _X_ years after I saved your life, I will get on that train feeling like I've done some good."

"Okay, but it seems like a dinky payment."

"To me it's _huge_ , Miss Everdeen. Being able to save a life is why I went into medicine."

* * *

 **Five minutes later**

The doctor and the two Everdeen women walked out of the examining room and into the waiting room. Katniss was again wrapped in her blanket; fortunately, the waiting room was empty except for the receptionist. Katniss's mother was holding the white bedsheet, now folded. Dr. Picardo was holding sheets of paperwork that he had just filled out.

Katniss and the receptionist both startled when they saw each other; each recognized the other from the Hob.

Meanwhile, Dr. Picardo had laid his papers on the receptionist's desk. "Urbania, start a new folder for Katniss Everdeen"—he spelled her name. "For employee number, put '999999.' "

"Um, doctor?" Urbania said. Clearly the young Capitol woman was about to say _This girl is no miner, so she should not be a patient_.

Dr. Picardo said, "Yesterday, Miss Everdeen was close to death. Head Peacekeeper Cray used his powers of persuasion"—the doctor rolled his eyes—"to convince me to examine her. Once she became my patient, I upheld my Hippocratic Oath."

Urbania pointed at the ceiling. "The rainbows"—Capitol people—"upstairs might not like this." She tapped one of the papers with a finger. " _Blood-filtering?_ That's expensive, I'm sure."

He shrugged. "If they complain, I'll point out that the Hippocratic Oath says nothing about _budget constraints_. Translation: blame Cray."

Everyone laughed.

Dr. Picardo turned to Katniss. "I'm sure you're cured. If not, you may come back here for follow-up visits, but only for thirty days, and only for complications related to your"—he rolled his eyes again—" 'squirrel bites.' So if some wild-eyed neighbor of yours bursts in here, telling me that you've been gunshot—well, your neighbor and you are on your own. _Clear?_ "

"Clear," Katniss said.

Dr. Picardo asked, "Anyone have questions?"

"I do," said Urbania, looking at Katniss. "Are you related to Primrose Everdeen, who was Reaped yesterday?"

"She's my little sister," Katniss snapped.

"Reaped Prim is my daughter," Mother said, with calmness that amazed Katniss.

Urbania stared at the Everdeen women, speechless.

Mother said, "I'll go get your clothes now, Katniss. Play nice." She left.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Urbania said she recognized Katniss as someone who sold dead squirrels to Greasy Sae—

Katniss interrupted: "Squirrels drop dead in front of me all the time. It's the oddest thing. But then I sell them to Greasy Sae and pick up a few PDs."

Smirking Dr. Picardo asked, "And you're always 'finding' dead squirrels _inside_ the fence?"

"Of course, doctor. Going _outside_ the fence is illegal."

Urbania asked, "So when I eat Wild Dog Soup, I'm really eating squirrel?"

Dr. Picardo looked shocked. "Urbania, _you_ eat Wild Dog Soup? That's _barbaric!_ " Then to Katniss: "No offense, Miss Everdeen."

Katniss grinned at Urbania. " _Some of_ the time, Wild Dog Soup is really squirrel. But not _always_. When the sun turns green, only then will Greasy Sae tell you what's _truly_ in the soup."

Urbania grinned at that, but then her grin faded. "Miss Everdeen, I've never known a Reaped tribute. Before now, I never knew someone who knew a tribute. I don't know what to think about this."

* * *

 **That evening  
** **The Remake Center  
** **The Capitol**

For the Tribute Parade, Florius Donaldson chose to dress Prim and Peeta up as miners.

("Because you're each under nineteen, so you're both minors. Get it? Min _ors_ , min _ers?_ I'm so clever.")

Prim and Peeta both tried to tell Florius that, had they not been Reaped, neither of them would ever work even one day in a coal mine. But alas, Florius refused to listen.

It got worse. The entire costume, from the hardhats and miner-lights on down, was done in either lavender-purple or eggplant-purple. Even the work boots were eggplant-purple!

Then the time came when Peeta and Prim were required to dress in the costumes.

Florius needed to be there, he told Peeta, to check the two-tone-purple costume for a good fit, and to order last-minute alterations if needed. But if Florius was needed to supervise Peeta pulling on the costume, Haymitch was also in the room, to supervise Florius's supervising.

The task of checking _Prim's_ costume for a good fit, however, Florius handed off to an assistant, Larunda. Twenty-year-old Larunda treated watching Prim get dressed as a mere job, and a boring job at that.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

" _Catnip!_ Catnip, are you okay?"

Eighteen-year-old Gale Hawthorne ran up to Katniss and gripped her shoulders with his big hands. His face showed much worry and much guilt.

"Yes, I'm okay _now_ , thanks," Katniss replied. She gave Gale as much of a smile as she ever gave anyone.

"I'm _so sorry!_ I was _so focused_ on setting those snares—I never would have forgiven myself if that wild dog and wild boar had killed you."

Katniss said, "Well, I'm fine _now_ , thanks to Dr. Picardo at the clinic. And I'm not in trouble with Cray—"

Gale's eyes widened. The only way that Katniss could not be in trouble for missing the Reaping is if the doctor had declared her to be within seven days of death.

"—so let's just watch the show," Katniss continued. "But watch out: If my baby sister comes out on that chariot naked and in coal dust, I will _scream_ to burst your eardrums!"

Madge Undersee walked up then, and gave Katniss a hug. "I'm _glad_ you're okay, Katniss; I was _so worried_ about you! Don't worry about Prim—I had a dream about her, and I think she'll be okay. I gave Prim a pin that used to belong to my Aunt Maysilee."

Gale sneered, " 'Don't worry about Prim'—how easy for _you_ to say that! You Merchants never get Reaped."

Madge stood straight. "Gale Hawthorne, how a jerk like you gets even _one_ girl to the Slag Heap, I do not know! I remind you that Twelve's boy-tribute this year is the baker's son. And my Aunt Maysilee, she's buried in the Tribute Section of the cemetery."

Katniss said, "If anyone is keeping score, Gale has never taken _me_ to the Slag Heap. And he never will."

Hearing this, Gale looked disappointed.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later  
** **The stables  
** **(The bottom level of the Remake Center)  
** **The Capitol**

Peeta, with Prim standing next to him, watched the tributes from District One walk toward their waiting chariot.

"Want to know what Katniss would be like if she were blond, evil, and slutty?" Prim murmured. Prim chin-pointed to Glimmer, whose _walking_ was actually _sashaying_.

Peeta nodded. "Katniss and Glimmer each know they can kill anyone. This does wonders for their self-confidence."

Peeta dropped his voice. "I have an idea for something to try during the Tribute Parade. I haven't cleared it with Haymitch, and I _sure_ haven't cleared it with 'Glorious Florius.' But I think it will get people to notice us. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you," Prim said with no hesitation.

" _Great!_ Here's my idea." Peeta leaned down and murmured in her ear.

When Peeta straightened up, he said, "We'll have only a few seconds to act—after Eleven's chariot has gone under the lights. Otherwise Thresh and Rue will copy our trick, but _they'll_ get the credit and _we'll_ be seen as the copycats."

"What do you think Haymitch and Effie will say when they see us?"

Peeta laughed. "Either they'll both hug us and call us geniuses, or else Haymitch will get drunk for a week."

Minutes later, Eleven's chariot rolled out of the stables and into the bright artificial light. In that chariot, the big Eleven boy and the tiny Eleven girl stood next to each other; but they did not touch each other, look at each other, or act even slightly aware of each other.

Peeta stepped off the Twelve chariot, turned his back to Prim, and bent down. "Climb on," he said.

* * *

 **Seconds later  
** **Mentors and Escorts Reviewing Stand  
** **Along the parade route**

Effie asked Haymitch, "Still no luck finding out about Primrose's sister Karen?"

"Katniss," Haymitch corrected, for the fifth time.

Haymitch idly watched the six Career tributes—from Districts One, Two, and Four—play to the crowd. This was nothing new; Career tributes _always_ played to the crowd during the Tribute Parade.

Haymitch continued, "Actually, I got news ten minutes ago. Mayor Undersee told me Katniss is completely out of danger."

Haymitch briefly eyed the District One tributes. Unusually, the boy-tribute, Marvel, was not especially handsome; but this probably meant he was extra deadly. The girl-tribute, Glimmer, was stunning—and as sexual as a hundred-PD Capitol whore.

Effie clapped her hands. "This is great, great, _great_ news. Can we use this, do you think? That Peeta crushes on Primrose's sister Kar—Katniss?"

Haymitch noted in passing that the plain-faced, redheaded girl-tribute from Five looked embarrassed to death. Because she _should_ be embarrassed: Five's costumes this year were ridiculous.

Haymitch laughed after Effie's question. "I haven't decided what to say about Katniss, to be honest. A lot depends on whether we can convince sponsors that our kids are deadly contenders, as opposed to cannonbait."

Effie reached over and squeezed his hand (which shocked Haymitch). "I'm sure you'll make the right decision. You've pleasantly surprised me many times during the last few days, Haymitch."

Haymitch shot Effie a look of surprise.

Eleven's chariot emerged from the stables. Effie's hand squeezed Haymitch's hand _hard_.

Because it was only a few seconds till two brave District Twelve kids, each wearing a ridiculous costume, would emerge from the stables. How would the Capitol crowd react?

More seconds passed, then Haymitch got his answer. And then some.

* * *

When Peeta emerged from the shadows, he was standing in the middle of the chariot. His left hand was gripping the handrail on the chariot.

Peeta's right arm was wrapped around Prim's ankles—

The same Prim who was sitting on Peeta's shoulders, astride his neck.

The crowd _screamed_. "PEETA! PRIMROSE!" At first, the screaming came only from the crowd beside the chariot, from those people sitting by the stables. But then the chants moved on _ahead_ of the Twelve chariot.

Prim started to gyrate on Peeta's shoulders; Peeta guessed she was waving two-handed to the crowd. The chanting and screaming became even louder.

By now, Peeta was grinning—and he was willing to bet his last PD that Prim was grinning too.

A quarter of the way between the stables and the City Circle, Prim's hand pulled Peeta's purple hardhat off his head. Peeta looked up in surprise. Bareheaded Prim was gripping Peeta's hardhat, and her own, by their buffer straps and was waving the hardhats around.

A surprised voice from the crowd yelled, "THEY'RE BOTH BLOND!"

When the Twelve chariot passed in front of where the mentors and escorts were sitting, Peeta saw that the Career mentors were glaring painful death at him and Prim. Haymitch and Effie were staring, wide-eyed—but they both were also grinning ear to ear.

When Twelve's chariot reached the City Circle, Prim placed Peeta's hardhat back on his head. In theory, now the Twelves looked ridiculous again—but if so, why were the six Careers glaring at Peeta, and at Prim still sitting on his shoulders?

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

Madge had stayed near Katniss and Gale, and had been holding Katniss's hand since shortly before the Twelve chariot appeared on screen.

Now Katniss, Gale, and Madge listened to Twelve residents talking excitedly. For the first time in twenty-four years, Twelve had outdone the Careers—even if only during the Tribute Parade.

"Prim looked _great_ , Catnip," Gale said.

Madge asked, "What does it mean that Prim went from two braids at the Reaping to one braid now? Did the stylist do that?"

"Ohh, _Primrose!_ " Katniss said sadly.

Then Katniss looked at Madge. "I'm not _sure_ what one-braid means. But I'm afraid my sweet little sister—who cried when she saw me wound a deer—is already gone forever, no matter how the Games turn out."


	7. The Next Five Days

TO THE READERS: In the _The Hunger Games_ movie is a scene that does not occur in the novel. In the Training Center, Peeta is trying to climb a diagonal rope ladder, but then the rope ladder twists around so that he is on the underside of it. He falls painfully onto the practice mat. The Careers smirk. Katniss runs over and says—

"Throw that metal thing over there," referring to a big metal ball with a handle.

Peeta says, " _What?_ No. Haymitch said we're not supposed to show our skills."

"I don't care what Haymitch said. Those guys are looking at you like you're a meal. Throw it."

Peeta throws the heavy metal ball _overhand_. It hits a rack of spears, spilling the spears. The Careers look respectful.

Also in the movie, and also missing from the novel, is a brief scene of Glimmer at the archery station. She is shown shooting only one arrow, which misses the target.

 **Chapter 7**  
 **The Next Five Days**

 **One minute later  
The Square, District Twelve**

The Tribute Parade was over. District Twelve residents were fleeing the Square for their homes, because curfew fell fifteen minutes after the end of Mandatory Viewing.

Madge said, "Katniss, I'll walk you home. Cray won't bother you when you're with the mayor's daughter."

Gale grunted. "If Katniss needs protecting tonight, she'll need _real_ protection." He fell in step on Katniss's other side.

" _Fine_ ," Madge said. "But so you know, Gale, those big muscles of yours won't help you against Peacekeepers."

"You have big muscles?" Katniss said to Gale. She briefly looked him over. "Huh. I never noticed."

Once they were out of earshot of other people, Madge muttered, "I hate Capitols, I really do. It's bad enough that they'll kill two of our kids for something that happened seventy-four years ago, but to dress them up like performing poodles _first?_ "

Katniss was stunned. "Madge? What you're saying, it's..." Katniss could not even speak the word _treason_.

Gale sneered, "Listen to this, a Merchant girl hates the Capitol. What's wrong, Daddy the mayor wasn't invited to Jones's"—the District Twelve Capitol Liaison's—"party last week?"

Madge snapped, "Oh, _wake up_ , Gale! If you think the Merchants of Twelve are no different than Capitols, then you're just another one of Snow's _stupid_ sheep!"

"I am no sheep, Merchant girl!"

" _Really?_ Peeta Mellark, my _other_ close friend, once told me that his family _never, ever_ ate fresh bread, because they'd be whipped if they did. Every day, they eat _stale_ bread. Delly Cartwright's father owns the shoe store, but notice what shoes she wears every day. Do you _really_ think that just because we Merchant kids don't have to take out tesserae, we have it _easy?_ "

Gale said, "I..." Then he went quiet.

Katniss said calmly, "I don't like most Capitols. Effie Trinket is a _joke_. But over at the medical clinic, Dr. Picardo and Urbania the receptionist are nice."

Gale said, " _No_ Capitols are nice, Catnip. You've been fooled."

Madge said, "Agreed. Capitols treat my father with no more respect than they treat the marriage-recorder clerk in the Justice Building. Who is a twenty-year-old _dingbat_ with aquamarine hair."

Katniss said, "So _both of you_ are saying I'm wrong?"

* * *

 **That same night (Wednesday night)  
One hour after the Tribute Parade  
The Presidential Mansion  
The Capitol**

Coriolanus Snow stared out the window of his office at the lights of Panem's national capital, as he fumed. Faintly he could hear yelling and happy chants as Capitols celebrated Hunger Games season, but his own mood was very _un_ happy.

Twelve's tributes had mocked him by upstaging him, and by upstaging the inner-district tributes, during the Tribute Parade. Had those children come from Eleven or Ten, Snow might credit their errors to the impetuousness of youth. But no, they came from Twelve, and Haymitch Abernathy was their mentor. The same Haymitch Abernathy who, during his own Games, had _cheated_ Emeralda Fenwick of District One out of her rightful win.

Conclusion: he, Coriolanus Snow the president of Panem, had been upstaged _deliberately_ by Haymitch Abernathy. Snow imagined Abernathy standing here in his office, smirking as he pretended innocence. "Sweetheart just rode on the boy's shoulders, yeah? No big deal."

Abernathy was permanently on the Presidential Shitlist, but there was little that Snow could actually _do_ to Haymitch Abernathy. Abernathy's tributes, though—they were a different story.

Statistics said that the odds of both Twelves surviving the Bloodbath were only 32 percent. But assuming that both Primrose and Peeta somehow _did_ survive their first ten minutes in the Games, Snow would wait. If the unlikely happened and one of them lived long enough that Abernathy actually felt hope, Snow would place a telephone call to Seneca Crane—and Abernathy's hopes for a Victor would be dashed.

Messily. As District Twelve watched.

President Snow's office door opened, unannounced, and a familiar teenage-girl voice said behind him, "Are you okay, Grandpa? You seemed upset earlier."

He turned around, smiling. "Yes, now I'm— _What have you done to your hair?_ "

She asked shyly, "Do you like it?" His granddaughter's light-brown hair now fell in a single braid down her right shoulder. "I decided that I liked Primrose Everdeen's spunk, and she's so _cute!_ So I did my hair like hers. Except it's hard to braid my hair on the left side; she must be left-handed."

"Your hair looks lovely, my dear" is what President Snow told his granddaughter. Meanwhile, he was thinking, _Primrose Everdeen, you are dead, dead, dead_.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
The Training Center, Twelve's apartment  
The Capitol**

Prim and Peeta were having a late dinner with Haymitch and Effie. Peeta was surprised to note that Haymitch's only sign of drinking was a single glass of wine (poured by a gorgeous young redheaded servant woman).

The mood was joyous. Haymitch actually complimented Effie on her "managing" of Florius Donaldson. Effie beamed at the praise, and Peeta nearly fell out of his chair from shock. Haymitch could act _nice?_

The same redheaded servant woman brought out a two-layer cake with chocolate frosting. Both layers were round; but the upper layer was smaller than the bottom layer, as in a wedding cake. But Peeta had never heard of a two-layer, chocolate-frosted wedding cake.

Haymitch must have noticed Peeta eyeing the cake. "This is to celebrate what you did together in the Tribute Parade. Claudius Templesmith is already referring to you two as 'the Tower of Twelve.' "

"Whose idea was that?" Effie asked. "I am _sure_ that Florius did not suggest it."

Prim quickly spoke up: "It was Peeta's idea. He's smart."

Haymitch grinned. "It's just a _little bit_ rebellious. You did good, boy."

* * *

 **The next morning (Thursday)  
Five days until the Gong  
The first day of training  
The Training Center, Twelve's apartment**

Prim and Peeta came to breakfast wearing identical clothing: goldenrod-yellow pants and sky-blue shirts. Not only were they dressed identically, but their clothing complemented their blond hair and blue eyes.

During breakfast, Haymitch instructed his tributes, "You'll see all kinds of training stations in the Training Center, there to teach you everything from spear-throwing to how to build a fire. Learn all the new stuff you can in your three days, and not just in weaponry. But don't show off your strengths! No weight-lifting in front of Careers, boy, and no plant-identification or first-aid for you, sweetheart."

Prim and Peeta both nodded.

Haymitch continued, "Breakfast and dinner you'll eat here, but lunch you are expected to eat with other tributes in the dining hall off the gym. The Careers will try to mess with your head during lunch. Don't let them get to you. If one of them steals food from you, steal it back."

"Um...," Prim said.

Haymitch said, "Tributes are _forbidden_ from fighting with each other. The penalty is both tributes being beaten with rubber hoses by Peacekeepers, with no medical care afterward."

Peeta whistled.

"Back in my own Games, I turned the tables on the Careers. I stole a pear off the tray of the second Four boy, just to mess with his head. Which drove him snakeshit, because he couldn't think of any other way to fix things than pounding my face in, which his Career buddies wouldn't let him do. Good times."

Effie said, "Haymitch, you were bad." But she said it smiling.

"Evaluations are done on the third day, when you earn a score between one and twelve. But that doesn't tell anyone your odds of winning, only the Gamemakers' estimate of your potential. The scores can be misleading; Johanna Mason was given a three."

A few minutes before ten o'clock, Prim asked Haymitch, "Any final advice?"

Haymitch said, "Go downstairs, ignore the Careers' head games, and _learn all you can_."

* * *

 **Two minutes later  
The gymnasium (Training Center basement)**

Prim and Peeta were surprised to see that they were the only tribute-pairs to be dressed identically.

They soon noticed that they were also the only tribute-pair to always train together.

As soon as the head instructor, Atala, released the tributes to go to whichever training stations they chose, all six Careers ran to weapons stations. They did not even pretend that this was the first time they had handled these deadly weapons. Prim felt intimidated, but then she frowned. _This is exactly what the Careers_ want _you to feel_.

* * *

Prim, to Peeta's surprise (and clearly her own), turned out to be good at knife-fighting. Thanks to months of carrying around pails of goat milk, Prim was strong, therefore quick; and thanks to her medical knowledge, she was quick to learn where to strike with deadly effect.

The only problem was, learning such things made Prim look unhappy. As she confided to Peeta, "I'm a healer; killing somebody, even on a practice mat, feels _wrong!_ "

Peeta turned out to be likewise skilled at knife-fighting, as Haymitch had predicted. Peeta also showed skill at knife- _throwing_ —enough to make Clove (Two's girl tribute) frown as she watched.

* * *

Peeta turned out to be a genius at camouflage. He tried to explain that his skill had something to do with his knack for decorating cakes, but Prim could not follow Peeta's explanation.

Both Prim and Peeta learned how to tie knots, but Prim learned faster. She was the first of them to learn how to build a man-sized snare that would yank even the heaviest boy off the ground. Peeta stayed at the knot-tying station till he too mastered the human-capturing snare.

* * *

 **1:04 p.m.  
Gymnasium dining hall**

All six Careers sat at the same table, even though the dining hall had twelve tables to choose from. The Careers were as loud as the other eighteen tributes were quiet.

Prim, with her chin up, walked over and asked the Careers to quiet down; she claimed they were disturbing her meal. Twenty-three tributes, and the two Peacekeepers in the corner, all stared at Prim in shock. But the Careers briefly quieted down.

Prim grinned at Peeta when she returned to her seat.

* * *

 **That afternoon**

Rue, the other twelve-year-old girl tribute, walked up and introduced herself to Prim. She acted shy around Peeta (who was much bigger and was four years older), but Rue seemed at ease around Prim.

Rue, like Prim, knew a lot about edible plants. Unlike Prim, Rue was skilled with a slingshot—which was the only weapon whose training station the Careers never visited. Prim and Peeta watched in amazement as the tiny girl fired 4-centimeter balls at the target with perfect accuracy.

Rue also zoomed up the rope ladder, and made climbing the rope ladder look easy.

* * *

The rope ladder was a diagonal contraption that started between two rings that were fastened to the floor; then the rope ladder traveled across the gym five meters and traveled up four meters, till the rope ladder attached in two places to a catwalk. Once Rue or someone stood on the catwalk, he or she walked a few meters to the right till the tribute came to a firepole. The tribute slid down the firepole and (s)he was back on the floor.

Peeta happened to be standing by the right edge of the bottom of the rope ladder, so when he decided to climb the rope ladder, he tried to climb onto it from the right edge.

"No, no," said Rue, "start from the middle. Between the rings."

Peeta did so, starting in the middle of the net. It was tricky going; the net wobbled, rocked, and swayed under his weight.

About halfway up, he came up with an idea: he would climb the net diagonally, moving to the right (toward the firepole) as he moved up the rope ladder.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

He was reaching for a segment of rope that was above him and to his right when the rope ladder suddenly twisted clockwise. In one second, Peeta went from being atop the rope ladder to being on the underside of it. His one hand that was holding onto the rope, lost its grip; and his other hand, moving frantically, got tangled in rope segments when it was trying to grab onto the rope ladder.

His shoulders started to fall, while his feet remained in place for half a second, tangled in the rope ladder.

Peeta fell from the rope ladder; but he also spun as he fell, so that his shoulders, back, and head hit the practice mat first— _Wham!_ —before his butt and legs hit.

Peeta _hurt_.

Prim, not waiting for the Training Center doctor, rushed over. She felt up the back of Peeta's head, asked a few questions, and pronounced him to be only mildly hurt.

(The Training Center doctor looked at Prim in amazement, then repeated her examination. He too pronounced Peeta to be free of a concussion.)

After Prim and the doctor left, Peeta shakily stood up—to the sound of loud jeers from the watching group of Careers.

"The rope ladder isn't so easy, is it, Twelve?" Clove called out.

Five Careers were laughing at Peeta, smiling hugely, or smirking. Only Marina from Four watched Peeta with a solemn expression.

The thought of getting on that rope ladder again, and falling again, and being mocked by the Careers again, was awful. Peeta was strongly tempted to give up on the rope ladder and to find something else he could do better. But following on that thought was another thought: _If I quit whenever things get bad, I can't protect Prim_.

So Peeta walked back over to the bottom of the rope ladder, and put his hands and feet in place. Prim and Rue watched in silence.

"Hey, Twelve," Marina called out. "If you get in trouble, move your butt or your shoulders back toward the centerline of the net. But don't move too much sideways, or you'll be back in trouble again."

Peeta nodded, and began to climb the net for the second time.

Soon he found himself underneath the twisted-around net again—but this time he was higher up the net. Peeta untangled his feet, let them swing underneath him, then let go of the net with his hands. Again he hit the practice mat—but it was his feet that hit, and he landed without injury.

The Careers did not jeer this time, but five of the six were smirking.

Peeta attacked that rope ladder a third time and a fourth time. At the end of his fourth attempt, he was standing on the catwalk.

From the vantage point of the rope ladder's catwalk, Peeta looked around. Prim and Rue, who were standing by the base of the rope ladder, were looking up at him. Windmilla from Five, who for some reason was leaning against a wall of the gymnasium, was watching him. In the Careers group, Marina was watching him.

Just before Peeta slid down the firepole, he looked over at the quiet, serious-faced Careers. "Thanks for the advice," he said to Marina.

Once Peeta was back on the floor, he tried for the fifth time to climb the rope ladder. Again he reached the catwalk, but after a wobbly climb that showed none of Rue's earlier grace.

Seconds later, Peeta was sliding down the firepole. When he hit the floor, Marina said to him, "You're welcome. But you know that being nice _in here_ doesn't change anything _out there_ , right?"

Peeta nodded solemnly. "Understood."

* * *

After the rope-ladder adventure, Prim and Peeta learned how to start a fire and how to make a shelter.

Grinning like fools, Prim and Peeta took turns shooting arrows at targets. No squirrel needed to worry. As Twelve's tributes walked away from the archery station, Peeta said, "Now I better appreciate anyone who is great with a bow and arrow." He was grinning as he said it.

Prim did not reply with words; she just grinned back.

* * *

What Peeta and Prim noticed during their first day in the Training Center's gymnasium—

Thresh, Eleven's boy tribute, was as big as Cato from Two, and as strong as Cato. But when any of the Careers tried to talk to Thresh, he gave them a disgusted look and walked away without replying.

Steer, the boy from Ten, had a _bad_ limp. Prim told Peeta that Steer had a broken femur set wrong.

Windmilla, the ginger-haired girl from Five, sometimes stood with her back to a wall in the gymnasium and watched all the other tributes.

Wattson, the boy from District Three, asked the Twelves if they would consider an alliance. In reply, Prim and Peeta, each normally the most trusting of people, turned Wattson down with a flimsy excuse. Wattson struck both Prim and Peeta as _shifty_.

* * *

 **At dinner that night  
Training Center, Twelve's apartment**

Haymitch asked Prim and Peeta to describe their first day of training in detail. Haymitch grinned when Prim told him how she had asked the Careers during lunchtime to knock off the noise; then he high-fived Prim.

Haymitch was pleased that Peeta was good at both knife-fighting and knife-throwing.

Haymitch grinned, and Effie applauded, when Peeta told of his conquest of the rope ladder.

When Prim and Peeta had finished telling their tales, Haymitch's face got serious. "Let me remind you again, kids: You need to start planning for what you'll do after the Gong sounds. Kids, and especially _you_ , Primrose: If you want to win, you can't stick to defensive fighting; sooner or later you will _always_ lose. To win, you must attack, you must go out to kill."

Prim said, "I'm not ready to do that, Mr. Abernathy."

"You need to _get_ ready, sweetheart. Or else."

* * *

 **The next morning (Friday)  
Four days until the Gong  
Training Center, Twelve's apartment**

Haymitch and Effie were actually pleasant to each other during breakfast. Prim looked at Peeta in amazement.

Haymitch at one point was grinning when he said, "Your green wig isn't _weird_ enough, Princess. How about you replace it with a rainbow-colored wig, yeah? Show the kids you have _no_ sense, instead of _little_ sense."

Effie herself was smiling as she replied, "You are a caveman with no manners."

Prim sometimes watched the "Victors Tonight" holoprogram, so she had heard Haymitch's and Effie's exchanges before. But this was the first time that Prim had heard those two make putdowns _without_ the nasty undertone.

And was Effie actually giving Haymitch a _flirty_ look?

* * *

 **Later that morning  
The second day of training  
The gymnasium (the Training Center basement)**

Walking past the edible-plants training station, Peeta and Prim watched as ginger-haired Windmilla Finch of District Five whizzed through the identifications—then Five-Girl got rudely stopped.

 _Buzzer. Buzzer._

 _Twice_ Windmilla misidentified nightlock shrubs as blueberry shrubs.

Prim coached Windmilla how to tell the shrubs apart: "Look at the leaf. The spine of the nightlock leaf isn't leaf-green, it's slighter darker and grayer—spruce-green."

"Thanks," Windmilla said. "Nightlock berries are something I've never needed to know about before."

* * *

For the second day in a row, Prim deliberately avoided looking at Marvel from District One, the tribute whom she had dreamed was laughing just before he killed her.

* * *

Back before the Tribute Parade, Prim had said to Peeta about Glimmer, "Want to know what Katniss would be like if she were blond, evil, and slutty?"

Now the Twelve tributes watched, both worried, as Glimmer _killed_ at the gymnasium's archery station. Glimmer's every arrow hit the bullseye.

Peeta murmured to Prim, "What do we do if she _is_ Katniss turned evil?"

Clove maybe wondered the same thing. She walked over to stand behind Glimmer. Then just as Glimmer pulled her elbow back, Clove yelled, " _BOO!_ "

Glimmer's arrow did not hit the target, much less the bullseye.

" _What the fuck, Clove?_ " Glimmer demanded.

Clove's voice was sugar-sweet: "That target isn't trying to dodge, and it isn't trying to kill you. I was just curious how you'd shoot when you weren't all relaxed."

The answer soon became clear: When Glimmer wasn't relaxed, she couldn't shoot well at all. Peeta and Prim watched for a few more minutes, and Glimmer never hit the bullseye again.

* * *

 **Lunchtime  
Gymnasium dining hall**

Prim and Peeta were sitting at the same table where they had eaten their hour-long lunch yesterday. Prim had invited Rue to join them, but she too was eating in the same place as yesterday. That place was _not_ by Thresh, who was sitting in a corner of the dining hall. (Windmilla of Five was sitting, eating, and watching in a different corner.)

Like yesterday, six strong kids sat at the Careers table. Unlike yesterday, Marina of Four stood up from that table and walked over to the Twelves. The other Careers, clearly puzzled, went quiet.

Marina stopped at the Twelves' table, eyed Peeta and Prim, and said in a sweet voice, "Would you two like to join us for lunch?"

Marlin, District Four's boy-tribute, yelled, " _What the fuck, Marina? Get back over here!_ "

Prim sat up straight, smiled sweetly, and said to Marina, "No thank you. But your invitation is most kind." _Effie Trinket herself couldn't say it better_ , Prim thought.

Marina glanced at Prim, glanced at Peeta, sketched a curtsy, then walked back to her table.

Where Marina then caught shit from five directions. But Marina's calm voice made no apologies.

* * *

 **The next day (Saturday)  
Three days until the Gong**

Training in the Gymnasium went for only half a day. Then, like before, the tributes were given an hour to eat in the dining hall. But at 2 p.m., instead of the tributes returning to the gymnasium, twenty-three tributes remained in the dining hall—

While Marvel of District One was called out to begin his Evaluation by the Gamemakers.

Fifteen minutes later, Marvel had not returned to the dining hall, but Glimmer's name was called.

At 3:45, when Marina's name was called, Peeta said, "Good luck to you."

Marina nodded, looking serious. "Good luck to both of you," she said, before walking out.

* * *

At 7:45 by the dining-hall clock, Prim's name was called.

By 7:50, Prim wanted to cry, because the Gamemakers were drunk and they ignored her. Figuring it would make no difference, and because Prim wanted to _shoot something_ , she abandoned the first-aid station for the archery station. She still could not shoot well, but she shot _hard_ , each time pulling the bow back as far as she could. She hit the target about half the time.

* * *

 **A half-hour later  
Training Center, Twelve's apartment**

Prim, along with Peeta, Haymitch, and Effie, was eating a late dinner.

Five minutes into the meal, Haymitch put down his fork and did not sugarcoat his next words: "Okay, enough small talk, just how bad were you today?"

Peeta answered first. "I don't know that it mattered. By the time I showed up, no one even bothered to look at me. They were singing some kind of drinking song, I think. So, I threw around some heavy objects until they told me I could go."

"And you, sweetheart?" Haymitch asked.

Prim said, "Peeta's right, though I missed out on the drinking song. I was _queen_ of the first-aid station, I could _teach_ it, but did they even see? _No!_ So then I went to the archery station and shot arrows till I ran out of arrows. Then they said, 'Thank you, Twelve Female, you're done.' "

Peeta laughed. "You shot arrows"—Peeta put a slight emphasis on _You_ —"for your Evaluation?"

Haymitch also looked amused. "Pretty gutsy, sweetheart, since _nobody in Twelve_ knows how to work a bow and arrow."

Puzzled Effie asked, "Why are you two grinning so big?"

* * *

 **At 9:30 p.m., Capitol time**

In what was Mandatory Viewing in the Districts and in the Training Center, Caesar Flickerman appeared on hologram and announced each tribute's Training Score.

The lowest Career score was an eight (given to Glimmer of One and Marlin of Four). The highest Career score was a ten (awarded to both Cato and Clove of Two).

The average for the non-Career tributes was a five, which coincidentally was the score of Windmilla Finch of Five. Surprisingly, Rue of District Eleven scored a seven, and Thresh of District Eleven scored a ten.

Peeta scored an eight—Effie applauded—but Prim earned only a four.

* * *

 **The next two days  
Training Center, Twelve's apartment**

For both Sunday and Monday, Twelve's tributes and everyone connected with them—Haymitch, Effie, Florius Donaldson, and Peeta's and Prim's respective Prep Teams—all were completely focused on only one goal: to make Peeta and Prim _shine_ when Caesar Flickerman interviewed them Monday evening.

To achieve this goal, Haymitch coached Peeta and Prim together, for four hours, about the content of their interviews. Then Prim and Peeta were each coached by Effie for four hours, on interview presentation. Thankfully, Haymitch had forbidden Florius from putting Prim into high heels, so Prim did not need to learn how to walk in them.

Monday afternoon, Peeta and Prim were handed over to their respective Prep Team.

Each Twelve tribute believed that, since he or she had been scrubbed and prettified only five days earlier, the second prep session would be shorter and less unpleasant.

Each Twelve tribute was wrong.

* * *

 **Monday afternoon  
The mansion of the District Twelve mayor**

Aloe Everdeen was handed the telephone to speak to Haymitch Abernathy, who for some reason was calling from the Capitol just to speak to her.

Aloe's first words were, "How is Prim? How's she holding up? How will she do in the Games?"

Haymitch replied, "She'll do better than I expected." He did not explain.

He paused, then said, "Aloe, I'm giving you a heads-up. Your other daughter will be mentioned by _both_ Prim and Peeta in their interviews. I thought you should warn Katniss ahead of time."

Fifteen minutes later, when Aloe passed on Haymitch's message, Katniss shrugged. " _Of course_ Peeta will mention me. I'm in his year at school."

* * *

 **Monday afternoon  
Training Center, Twelve's apartment  
**

After Prim was out of Prep and before she ate dinner, she went looking for Haymitch. When she found him, she tapped her Mockingjay pin and said to him, "Madge told me I _really_ need to ask you about something." Whispering, Prim added, "Alone."

Instead of answering, Haymitch said, "Follow me." Then Haymitch went looking for Peeta. When Haymitch found Peeta, Haymitch said to both tributes, "Did you kids know that this building has a roof garden? And that Twelve people can visit it anytime? It has a great view, but it's _really_ noisy. Let me show you."

Up on the roof, Haymitch told both Prim and Peeta all about mockingjays, and about the birds' meaning during the rebellion. Haymitch confirmed Prim's statement that his district partner, Maysilee Donner, had worn this same pin in the Fiftieth Hunger Games.

Peeta's reaction to Haymitch's words was, "Hold on, you're saying my old aunt, Sugar Mellark-Donner, was a _rebel?_ "

Prim said, "And you're telling _me_ that this pin I'm wearing is a _rebel symbol?_ Should I still wear it into the Games?"

Haymitch looked at her with a grave expression. "It's _your_ choice now, Primrose, not mine."

* * *

 **Monday evening  
The Tribute Interviews stage  
The Capitol**

Haymitch's instructions to Florius Donaldson had been simple. After Haymitch had started with "Sweetheart gets _flat-heeled_ shoes," he had said, "I want the kids dressed in matching outfits. Either _exactly_ the same outfit—except you're not going to put Peeta in a dress, yeah? Or Primrose in pants?—or else make their two outfits refer to each other. And one other thing: _No purple!_ "

Florius had obeyed. Prim's sky-blue dress for the tribute interview came with goldenrod shoulders and quarter-sleeves; Peeta's royal-blue suit had goldenrod shoulders and took a goldenrod tie.

But compared with the tributes as a whole, Prim's and Peeta's outfits did not stand out, and this was doubly true when compared to the other blonds. Prim thought that Cato's clothes far outshone Peeta's; and Prim's own dress did not come within even a hundred meters of Glimmer's.

* * *

Because Prim's and Peeta's interview outfits were barely inspired, nobody outside of District Twelve noticed what Twelve's tributes _wore_ to their interviews with Caesar Flickerman. But all of Panem soon was talking about what Prim and Peeta _said_ at their interviews.


	8. The Tribute Interviews, and Afterward

**Chapter 8**  
 **The Tribute Interviews, and Afterward**

 **8 p.m. Monday evening  
Fourteen hours before the Gong**

Whistles, cheers, and applause sounded as the twenty-four tributes, each dressed in finery, stepped out of the Training Center for the first time in five days. The western sky was now a beautiful orange hue, Peeta noticed, but the sun itself had disappeared.

The outdoor stage that Peeta, Prim, and twenty-two other tributes climbed stairs onto, was in the City Circle and just outside of both the Training Center and the Presidential Mansion.

On the side of the stage that was right next to the Presidential Mansion were twenty-four chairs that were arranged in an arc, and that faced away from the Presidential Mansion. Glimmer of One took the rightmost chair; Peeta took the leftmost chair. In the center of the stage, and the center of the arc, were placed two large, comfortable gray chairs that partway faced each other.

Some of the now-seated tributes, Peeta noticed, could not look anywhere but at the floor of the stage. Peeta was not one of those—he looked into all the faces of the people looking at him.

Directly in front of the stage was a raised platform, on which stylists, mentors, and escorts sat; for some reason, stylists sat in the front row. Peeta could clearly see Florius Donaldson, who was dressed in a three-tone-purple three-piece suit, talking with a rainbow-colored woman.

Where space on the pavement was not already taken up by the interview stage and by the VIP platform, _many_ outlandishly-dressed Capitols stood, their faces showing excitement.

To Peeta's right was a building with a balcony; Gamemakers, each wearing the purple robes of his office, were packed into that balcony. Many of the Gamemakers sipped champagne is they looked down on the tributes, both figuratively and literally.

Caesar Flickerman ran out of the Presidential Mansion then, and hurried up steps at the back of the stage that Peeta had not noticed before. Caesar Flickerman paused to shake Glimmer's hand, then he hurried forward to stand in front of the gray chair on the right.

The crowd now was as loud as a mine-accident siren. Caesar, looking very blue, accepted their adoration.

He made a few opening remarks, he told a few jokes, then he called out Glimmer's name.

Glimmer stood up and, with hand on hip, sashayed over to the empty gray chair. Thus the twenty-four three-minute tribute-interviews began.

* * *

 **Sixty-six minutes later**

Caesar Flickerman tried to shake Thresh's hand, was ignored, then turned back to the front with a smile on his face. "And now from District Twelve, you know her as the girl-half of the 'Tower of Twelve' in the Tribute Parade. _Primrose Everdeen!_ "

The crowd _roared_.

Prim looked at Peeta, surprised, even as she rose from her chair next to him.

Prim's mockingjay-pin glinted in the bright lights.

* * *

 **Seconds later  
The Square, District Twelve**

Katniss stood staring at the three-dimensional holoprojection, almost unable to breathe. Gale had a hand resting on her left shoulder, and Madge was holding Katniss's right hand.

Hologram-Caesar said to Hologram-Prim, "Please tell me about your family."

"I live with my mother and my older sister, Katniss. Also with a cat and a goat. My mother is the district healer for Twelve. She's like a doctor, almost. I'm learning how to be a healer too. Already I've cleaned wounds and sewn sutures, and once I set a broken arm."

These words brought applause, both in City Circle and in District Twelve's Square.

Hologram-Prim continued, "When I first got my goat, she had a bad shoulder, and Katniss's friend Gale suggested that we kill the goat for the meat. But Mother and I healed that goat. She's fine now."

Again Capitols clapped.

" _Fuck_ , Katniss, I was _joking_ ," Gale said now. "About cooking the goat, I was _joking_. And I thought Prim _understood_ that."

* * *

 **On the tribute stage**

Marvel leaned over and murmured to Clove and Cato, "Too bad we can't slaughter her goat too."

Marina's head turned. She gave Marvel, Cato, and Clove a disgusted look, and mouthed the word _Idiots_.

* * *

 **The Square, District Twelve**

Hologram-Caesar said, "It sounds like a happy life."

Hologram-Prim smiled. "Oh, it is! What makes me really happy is Katniss. She's sixteen, a practical person, _really_ good at finding things, and she takes care of us. Katniss loves me—it was Katniss who saved up and saved up and bought me Lady."

"Lady?" Caesar asked, looking confused.

"My goat. I milk Lady and make goat cheese, which I sell to the baker. So I'm not only a mouth to feed, I'm helping the family, and Katniss made it possible!"

Long applause in the Capitol. In the Square, people called out, "Way to go, Katniss!"

Under the stars, Katniss was blushing hot.

Meanwhile, Caesar was saying to Prim, "It sounds like you love your sister."

"I do, so much. Going into these Games, I'm making a rule: What would Katniss do? Because Katniss is so practical."

The Capitols did not react to this; but in the Square, people applauded. Madge squeezed Katniss's hand.

Caesar asked Prim, "What did Katniss say to you after the Reaping?"

"Katniss wasn't there. She missed the Reaping because she had blood poisoning. She almost died!"

" _Aww_ ," Capitols said.

Then Prim said, "Katniss, if you're watching, I hope I can make you proud of me in these Games."

Applause and applause—both from Capitols and from Twelves.

Hologram-Prim added, "And Katniss, while I'm gone, _try_ to get along with Buttercup, _okay?"_

Prim explained to Caesar, "Katniss hates my cat and he hates her. But I love them both."

" _Aww_ ," Capitols replied.

Caesar asked Prim, "How do you think you'll do in the Games?"

"I think I'm someone whom everybody will want to ally with, because I can do first aid on them if they get hurt. After that, maybe I'll get lucky. I was Reaped with only one slip in the glass ball, so I figure that the universe owes me some _good_ luck now, maybe?"

Hearing that Prim had been Reaped after only one slip in the Reaping ball, the Capitol audience murmured sympathy. But in the Square, the murmurs were _angry_.

Meanwhile, Hologram-Caesar was saying, "Then I wish you that good luck, because you are such a sweet girl."

The buzzer sounded, ending Prim's interview.

* * *

 **On the tribute stage**

Peeta realized that Caesar had never asked Prim about her father. So Prim did not tell Panem that her father had died in a mine collapse.

Peeta also realized that Caesar had not asked Prim about her mockingjay-pin, even though the gold pin was very visible on Prim's dress.

* * *

 **The Square, District Twelve**

Katniss, who had not cried since the day of the mine collapse, was silently weeping now. She was weeping because Katniss the loving sister wanted Prim to survive the Games and to come home, but Katniss the huntress knew that Prim had no chance. If anything, Prim's interview-message of _I'm harmless, helpful, and nice_ had hurt her chances still further.

To Katniss's left, Gale said, "What do you think, folks? About Prim? Maybe she's trying to pull a Johanna?"

"Poor Prim," Madge said. "Now let's hear Peeta."

* * *

Katniss watched as Hologram-Peeta joked about his "battle to the death" with a rope ladder in the Training Center. But then "another tribute" gave Peeta good advice, and Peeta soon climbed the rope ladder twice.

Both the Capitol audience, and Twelves watching the holoprogram in the Square, applauded Peeta for this.

Katniss could not spot even a hint that Peeta was nervous about appearing live on this nationwide holoprogram. Twelve's male tribute acted as natural at appearing on holo as Caesar did.

Hologram-Peeta next joked about the Capitol showers, and joked about him being a klutz when he tried to figure out those showers. "Tell me, do I still smell like roses?" Hologram-Peeta asked Caesar with a straight face. The Capitol crowd _shrieked_ with laughter.

Two minutes in, Peeta dropped a bombshell—

Caesar asked, "Do you have a girlfriend back home?"

Katniss saw Hologram-Peeta pause, then shake his head.

Hologram-Caesar wasn't buying it: "A handsome lad like you? There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?"

Hologram-Peeta sighed. "Well, there _is_ this one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since the first day of school. But I'm pretty sure she didn't know I was alive till the Reaping. Maybe not even then."

 _Aww_ went the Capitol crowd. In the Square, Katniss heard District Twelve voices saying, "Poor guy."

Katniss glanced at Madge. "I bet he means you."

"Nope, not me," Madge replied.

Meanwhile, Hologram-Caesar was asking, "This girl, she have another fellow?"

Hologram-Peeta replied, "I wish I knew. But I _do_ know that a lot of boys like her."

"So here's what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" said Caesar, smiling encouragingly at Peeta.

Peeta sucked in air through his teeth. "That ... isn't a good idea. Winning won't help in my case."

Now Hologram-Caesar looked confused. "Why ever not?"

Hologram-Peeta faced forward, looking directly into his camera. "Because I came here with her sister, and Katniss loves Prim as much as Prim loves Katniss."

The Capitol crowd gasped.

* * *

Seconds earlier, Gale and Katniss and Madge had been quietly watching the tribute-interviews holoprogram. Gale's hand had been resting on Katniss's left shoulder, and Madge had been holding Katniss's right hand.

Gale's formerly-friendly hand now was squeezing Katniss's shoulder hard enough to hurt a little. "What the _fuck_ , Catnip?" he yelled.

Madge still was holding Katniss's hand, but now she stepped forward and spun around so that Madge now was facing Katniss. "Are you two _dating?_ Peeta never told me. _You_ never told me."

Katniss's confusion got worse. " _What?_ No, we're not dating. We've never dated."

'Then _why_ ," Gale demanded, "did Mellark say what he said?"

" _I don't know!_ " Katniss said. "I'm confused right now."

Madge said, "Peeta has always been in love with you. He is always talking about you. You never knew?"

" _No!_ "

Then Katniss thought of something. She asked Gale, "Why do _you_ care whether Peeta is in love with me?"

"You _really_ don't know?" Gale yelled.

"No, I _don't_ know why my best friend is mad about a boy I've barely spoken to, being in love with me! That's why I'm asking!"

" 'Best friend'? _Fuck_ , Catnip, you are clueless. I always figured that you'd figured everything out, but you were just playing everything cool."

"Figured _what_ out?"

"I'm not going to answer _that_ question, Catnip, with the whole Square listening! I'm going home."

Gale hurried away toward the shacks of the Seam. His muscles were tense.

Katniss looked at Madge, still confused. "Do _you_ understand what is going on?"

Madge bit her lip, paused, then said, "You should be nicer to Gale. When all this is over, he'll still be around. Come on, I'll walk you home."

"Madge, if you don't mind, I want to be alone now."

* * *

 **Seconds later  
Still in the Square**

Katniss had not spotted Mrs. Mellark before Peeta's mother had spotted her. The witch spoke loudly enough to be heard in District Eleven—

"Again I am disappointed in Peeta. Is he interested in any girl here who is a good match for him? No, he wants _worthless Seam trash_."

Katniss's head whipped around. Standing next to Mrs. Mellark were the baker and his other two sons—all of whom looked embarrassed by Mr. Mellark's words, but none of whom was trying to quiet her down.

Also standing near the Mellark family were the old apothecary and his wife. The Tyndales.

Katniss marched over and glared at Mrs. Mellark. _Loudly_ , Katniss said, "You beat Peeta, and your other sons and your husband let you. I would rather be Seam and live in a shack then be _you_. Peeta is _almost_ better off facing Careers."

For some reason, Mr. Tyndale and his wife were looking at Katniss with sorrow. Katniss could not guess why, because she was pretty sure neither of them were related to Peeta. Wracking her brain, Katniss eventually recalled that they were related to—

Aloe Tyndale Everdeen, the mother of Katniss and of Prim.

Mrs. Mellark, angry that she had been publicly insulted, now was spewing insults of her own. Katniss did not bother to listen. Katniss's hand shot up, almost in Mrs. Mellark's face, as Katniss spun to face the Tyndales.

"Good evening, Grandfather, Grandmother," Katniss said with venomous sweetness. "Your two _Seam_ granddaughters, whom you've always _pretended don't exist?_ One of them might be dead soon. If that happens, ask _your friend_ Mrs. Mellark here to bake you a cake, to celebrate the _happy_ occasion."

Katniss shot Mr. Tyndale, Mrs. Tyndale, and the baker all disgusted looks, then she turned on her heel and hurried away.

"Katniss, please come back," Mrs. Tyndale called out.

Katniss neither replied nor paused as she strode away. She was crying again, and she did not want anyone to see.

* * *

Coming next: **Bloodbath, Part 1**


	9. Bloodbath, Part 1

I have found several other fan-fiction alternate-universe stories with the premise of "Prim and Peeta go into the Games." The reason why Katniss does not volunteer for Prim varies in these stories, but in none of those other stories does Katniss not-volunteer because she is deathly ill. I am writing such a story, "Katniss starts out at death's door," because it gives a brand-new setup to the Prim-and-Peeta AU, but also because it allows for a plot twist. Below, I give you the plot twist. (The irony is that we know from canon that Prim getting her name pulled was merely bad luck.)

 **Chapter 9**  
 **Bloodbath, Part 1**

 **Minutes later  
Lobby of the Training Center**

The tributes had just left the tribute-interview stage and had just stepped inside the Training Center.

That's when Thresh from Eleven murmured, "So Everdeen, what you said, it's true? Only one slip, but you got Reaped?"

Behind Peeta, Prim replied just as quietly, "That's right."

Windmilla Finch from Five asked loudly, "Do you think your Reaping was punitive?"

Windmilla was shushed from a half-dozen directions, but she said, "If this girl was punitively Reaped, we need to know."

" _I_ wasn't," said Glimmer with a scornful laugh. "I _volunteered_."

"So you keep reminding us," Windmilla said. Then she turned her back on Glimmer, in order to look at Prim. "So, Primrose, what's your answer?"

By now there was a crowd of tributes around the elevator, but nobody was entering the elevator. Everyone—including Marina from Four, Peeta noticed—was listening to Prim.

Prim said, "I don't _know_ how I was Reaped. One minute I think, 'It was just bad luck,' and the next minute I picture how the Head Peacekeeper maybe tried to mess with Mother. But I don't _know_."

After those words, nobody else had anything to say on the topic. But Peeta noticed many angry faces as tributes entered the elevator.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later  
Training Center, Twelve's apartment**

After Prim and Peeta changed out of their interview clothes, they came to the dining table, where serious-faced Haymitch and beaming Effie awaited the tributes. The beautiful redheaded servant girl stood by the table but—again, Peeta noticed—did not speak.

Effie said, "You two were _fabulous_ in your interviews! Peeta and Primrose, you should feel proud of yourselves."

Peeta grinned, and he saw Prim grin too. Even the redheaded servant girl smiled.

Effie continued, "You two are the best tributes from District Twelve I have _ever_ had..."

Peeta and Prim continued to smile.

"...So I hope this means that next year, I get promoted to a better district."

The redheaded servant girl blinked.

Haymitch rolled his eyes. "Ignore Princess when she gets like this; she doesn't understand how she sounds to _normal_ people."

Effie said nothing, but she huffed, pursed her lips, and glared at Haymitch.

Then Haymitch looked Peeta and Prim in the eyes. "Tomorrow around dawn, you will be awakened and dressed to be taken by hovercraft to your arena. When you ride in the hovercraft, Purple Man and his assistant stylist will ride with you. Once you leave the hovercraft, you each will be taken by your stylist to your own launch room. There your stylist will dress you in your tribute uniform; be thankful Purple Man won't have designed it."

(Effie said, "Haymitch, that's rude!" Haymitch grinned at Peeta and Prim.)

Haymitch continued, "Before you get in the launch tube, food and drink will be offered on the hovercraft and in the launch room. My advice: Eat all you can; and especially, _drink_ all you can. From the moment you step onto that hovercraft, water is your new best friend."

Prim was trying hard to look calm and thoughtful, not scared. "When we're Launched, what do we do?"

Haymitch said, "Don't step off your pedestal till sixty seconds after you come up, when the Gong sounds. I'm sure you've seen kids blown up in earlier Games, but I'm reminding you anyway. Let's see, what else? Avoid the Cornucopia, neither of you is ready for that shit, even though the nicest goodies are at the Cornucopia or close to it. Avoid the Bloodbath—fight _nobody_ tomorrow unless you're _sure_ you can win, or you _can't avoid_ the fight. _Find water_. And remember, the ultimate rule is—"

"Stay alive," Peeta and Prim said together.

Peeta asked, "During the Bloodbath, where's the safest part of the arena?"

Haymitch grinned. "Outside the force field."

Seeing Peeta's stony stare, Haymitch added, "Behind the Cornucopia. During the Bloodbath, the Careers will be in the mouth of the Cornucopia, grabbing up goodies, or they'll be fighting off tributes who are themselves trying to grab goodies, or the Careers will leave the mouth of the Cornucopia to kill kids for the fun of it, but they don't dare go too far away."

Peeta looked at Prim. "The Cornucopia is almost always in some kind of clearing. Let's meet up directly behind the Cornucopia, just beyond the clearing."

Prim nodded, looking frightened. _The shit's getting real for both of us_ , Peeta thought.

Haymitch nodded at his tributes' plan. "One last thing, Peeta and Primrose. You won't like hearing this, but it might mean the difference between life and death, yeah? _Loot the dead_. If you see a kid dead on the ground with an axe in his back and a water bottle in his hand, take the axe and the water both. Otherwise the recovery hovercraft gets the axe and the water, which then are no good to anybody. Of course, if the dead tribute is dead because _you_ killed him, _definitely_ take all his goodies."

" _Urp_ ," Prim said. She looked green. Peeta himself felt disgusted too.

* * *

 **10:00 that night  
Betting stations, the Capitol**

The odds for the twenty-four tributes now were finalized by the Capitol's betting stations, and would not change until the cannons would fire at the end of the Bloodbath.

Had the tributes been exactly equal in terms of knowledge and skills, the pre-Gong odds of winning would be the same for every tribute: one in twenty-four. Peeta's actual chance of winning, so said the oddsmakers, was a slightly optimistic one in sixteen. Some Capitols—not many, but some—laid down bets on Peeta.

Prim's pre-Gong odds of winning the Games were listed as one in ninety-nine—the longest odds allowed. Nobody bet on Prim to win.

Where Prim was the favored tribute, and many Capitols bet on her, was in the category of First to Die. In this category, the oddsmakers gave Prim one-in-three odds.

* * *

 **10:46 that night  
Somewhere in the Capitol**

Haymitch and Effie were attending a party, supposedly for the purpose of courting sponsors. Or at least, this was _Effie's_ purpose. Haymitch normally came to these pre-Gong parties to scarf up free food and booze, since trying to get sponsorship for Twelve's kids was usually a lost cause.

But not this year. Between Peeta's "Tower of Twelve" stunt and the kids' interviews, rich Capitols—especially rich Capitol _women_ —were very interested in "the fans of Katniss."

Haymitch, with Effie standing next to him, was explaining to four disappointed women that no, he did not know anything about Katniss Everdeen; he had never met her. Haymitch did not explain _why_ he had never met her: Haymitch tried to avoid every Reaping-eligible child in Twelve.

Effie, who was dressed as ridiculously as ever but wearing a dress that showed her curves, told the four women, "I have not met Katniss either, but I'm sure she is a _lovely_ person. Peeta is a smart young man, and Primrose is _so polite_."

A man walked up to Haymitch and Effie. His suit was black, his shirt was white, and his tie was blue, which set him apart from every man in the room except Haymitch; the man also was as muscular inside his suit as Brutus. Calmly the man said, "The president wishes to meet with both of you tonight. Shall we go?"

Effie told the potential-sponsor women, " _The president_ wants to meet with us? This is a great honor!"

Haymitch thought, _She actually sounds like she believes it. Even after eleven years?_

* * *

In the back seat of the limousine, Effie looked very pointedly at the bodyguard riding in the front seat, then Effie looked at Haymitch with raised eyebrows. _Do you know what this is about?_

Haymitch made a tiny shrug. _No idea_.

* * *

The bodyguard led Haymitch and Effie to the presidential mansion's library.

Haymitch felt sharp envy. He would have sold out the entire Rebellion in his younger days, in order to get unlimited access to this library. Not only did the president's library have almost as many books as the Panem National Library, but the president's library had _every banned book_ , even the legendary _1984_.

At a large table—Haymitch was _sure_ that Effie could identify the table's wood—Snow's granddaughter sat, surrounded by papers and schoolbooks. She glanced up at the new arrivals, then went back to her work—

Or would have, except for the voice that came from a wing-back chair. "Minerva my dear, it is past your bedtime now. Also, I need to speak to Mr. Abernathy and Miss Trinket alone."

"No problem, Grandpa," said the teen as she stood. "Goodnight, all."

At the door, the girl snapped her fingers, turned, and looked at Haymitch and Effie with a bashful smile. "Please tell Primrose that I'm wearing my hair like she did in the Tribute Parade."

"Primrose will be _so_ flattered," Effie replied with a smile. Minerva Snow smiled back, then she left.

"Come over here, please," Snow's voice said. Haymitch and Effie walked over to the wing-back chair that now had two bodyguards standing by it.

By the wing-back chair was a small table, on which lay a beautiful telephone.

Haymitch was amused to note that Snow was holding in his lap a copy of the latest Peacekeeper Detective Lewis novel. The president placed a bookmark in the book, then turned his attention to his visitors.

"Miss Everdeen said in her interview that she was Reaped despite having only one slip in her Reaping ball. I am sure you can guess why such a statement upsets me."

Snow looked hard at Haymitch.

Haymitch replied, "She's twelve. If she hasn't taken out tesserae before now, she told the truth."

Effie said, "The poor child. The odds were _not_ in her favor."

Snow said, "She is indeed twelve, she has not taken out tesserae, and she has told the truth."

Effie looked confused. "So what is the problem, Mr. President?"

Snow said to Haymitch, "I trust you're familiar with the concept of 'punitive Reaping'?"

"I'm surprised that _you_ are," Haymitch said, "considering that _officially_ all drawings—all districts, all years—are completely random."

"I have _never_ rigged a Reaping," Effie declared. "Or been told to rig a Reaping."

Haymitch said, "But Twelve won't give up their ideas about Prim's Reaping just on your say-so, sweetheart."

"So I understand," Snow said.

Snow looked at Haymitch and sat up straighter. "I have telephoned Minister Blackwood. I have telephoned Paulus Cray in Twelve. I have invited you here to assure you that neither I nor they have rigged Miss Everdeen's Reaping. You have my word on this."

Haymitch believed Snow meant it. Snow was a cobra that smelled like roses and blood, but the president had a crazy reputation that he never outright _lied_ in a face-to-face meeting.

BUT.

Haymitch replied, "I accept what you say about yourself and Minister Blackwood. But _Cray?_ I think he's scamming you, Mr. President. He probably rigged it."

"Why do you say this?" Snow asked coldly.

"First, because I _know_ the man. Cray is hardly one of the Peacekeeper Corps's best. But also, let me tell you what Mayor Undersee keeps hearing..."

A half-minute later, Haymitch was saying, "...So the rumor is that Cray decided to punish Aloe Everdeen, for faking her older daughter's deadly illness, by punitively Reaping her younger daughter. So the Reaping got rigged, even though Katniss was truly sick and Aloe didn't fake a thing."

Snow said, "And most of the people of Twelve believe this, about Head Peacekeeper Cray?"

"Yes, they do."

" _Damn_ the man," Snow said.

Haymitch felt surprise, and Effie looked surprised. Haymitch had _never_ heard Snow swear.

Then Haymitch realized why Snow maybe was so upset. "The problem is more than just Twelve, yeah? _All_ the districts heard Prim's words. _All_ the districts now have people wondering, 'Was this girl punitively Reaped and at last we have proof?' "

Snow glared, but when he spoke, he spoke calmly: "Thank you for coming. Pietus will show you out, and my driver will return you to your party."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
On the roof of the Training Center**

Peeta said, "Oh, I'm scared of dying, I won't lie. But there are two other things that scare me just as much."

"What could be as scary as dying?" Prim asked.

"Not saving _you_. Even if I became a Victor—even if I became the next Finnick Odair, on holo _all the time_ —if I watched you die and then I had to face Katniss, I would be miserable for the rest of my life."

Prim's voice sounded amazed: "Your vowing to protect me, for love of Katniss? It's still _whoa_."

Peeta shrugged. "The third thing that terrifies me? That the Games might turn me into some kind of monster who _likes_ killing. Like the Careers, minus Marina."

Prim said, "It would be awful if such a thing happened to you. You're so _good_. But what if such a thing happened to _me?_ I'm a _healer!_ "

Prim put on a madwoman's voice: "This patient is very sick; she will die soon. I _like_ killing, killing is _fun_ , and with this woman, I can kill her and _nobody_ will know. _Myuhaha!_ "

Peeta said, "Anybody ever tell you that you have a very disturbing 'evil laugh'?"

Prim smiled, then said, "Hopefully I'll never talk like that for real. Well, assuming I make it alive out of this."

Peeta nodded glumly. "Yeah, assuming."

* * *

 **The next morning  
Prim's launch room underneath the arena**

Larunda, Florius Donaldson's assistant, dressed Prim in her tribute uniform as though Prim were a toddler. Prim flashed back to seven-year-old Katniss dressing toddler-Prim. Young Katniss had smiled at Prim; Larunda now did not smile at Prim at all.

Larunda's not-smiling did not bother Prim. What bothered Prim was that during the entire time Larunda and Prim were in the launch room, Larunda did not look Prim in the eyes. As Prim stepped into the launch tube, Larunda was silent, not saying _Good luck_.

* * *

 **Seconds later  
In the arena**

Peeta's platform raised him from his launch room into the arena.

Peeta found himself almost directly in front of the mouth of the Cornucopia that was forty meters away. If Peeta were a Career, now he would feel overjoyed at his lucky placement. But for Peeta's actual plans, to get to someplace safe _behind_ the Cornucopia, Peeta was in the _worst_ possible place.

Peeta looked around now, looking for Prim. He spotted her standing five pedestals to his left. Once the two of them made eye contact, Peeta pointed straight ahead of himself with his chin, then he moved his left hand away from his body, then his left hand moved in a circular arc around his thighs till it was in front of him. _Run outside of the pedestals to get to our meeting place_ was the message that Peeta was desperate to send to Prim.

Prim nodded. Peeta felt relief: For the next few minutes, Prim would be safe.

* * *

 **Less than a minute later  
12:00 noon, local time  
The Square, District Twelve**

Above the hologram-Cornucopia, a black-glass clock counted down seconds till the Gong—

Seven ... 6 ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... B-B-O-NG-G-G!

District Twelve held its breath.

* * *

 **Seven seconds after the Gong  
The arena**

Peeta's immediate plan had been to run to the left of the mouth of the Cornucopia, then to keep running straight onward with the Cornucopia by his right shoulder.

That plan got changed when Cato swerved from running into the Cornucopia to run straight at Peeta.

 _Does Cato remember I got an eight in Training?_ Peeta wondered.

Peeta was a kind and gentle soul—except on a wrestling mat. There was a reason that on the school wrestling team, Peeta was second to only his brother instead of dead last.

Now Peeta changed direction to meet Cato's attack head-on. Peeta body-slammed Cato to the grass. Peeta grinned for a second when the Career boy looked surprised that a "cannonbait" boy had bested him. Peeta laid his forearm across Cato's throat; Cato's face showed raw fear. Then—

Peeta jumped up, unharmed and unharming, leaving a stunned Cato on the grass.

But now Peeta was standing by the mouth of the Cornucopia, and so were a mob of tributes. Peeta could not see Prim.

* * *

 **Twelve seconds after the Gong  
Outside the pedestals in the arena**

As Prim ran clockwise just outside of the pedestals, she realized that she and Peeta had a problem.

If she followed the plan, both she and Peeta would arrive at the meeting point, completely safe—but emptyhanded. Twelve's tributes would have no food, no water, no medicine, no way to make fire, and no weapons.

The only goodies were inside the pedestals. And close to the pedestals, the "goodies" were not good at all: a sheet of clear plastic, one meter by one meter; an orange-handled paring knife; a box of self-adhesive bandages; a bottle of water; a small, yellow-colored box of matches; etc.

On the other hand, bulging backpacks were sitting in the grass, just waiting to be claimed—close to the Cornucopia.

Prim looked to her right. Everybody seemed to be in the Cornucopia-mouth half of the circle. Only a few tributes were in the Cornucopia-tail half of the circle. Those tributes fought not at all, or else fought timidly.

Prim came to a stop. She was now completely undecided which way to go.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
The Square, District Twelve**

District Twelve people were yelling at Hologram-Prim, "Why are you standing there? You'll be killed— _MOVE!_ "

It was a small mercy that Katniss was in school, and so did not know (yet) the danger her little sister was in.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
District Eight**

District Eight watched the holo as Spool Paylor, the District Eight male tribute, ran into the mouth of the Cornucopia. Spool actually managed to grab a sword and gut Marlin of Four like a fish—but then Cato of Two stepped up behind Spool and snapped Spool's neck barehanded.

Such a thing, untrained kids being slaughtered by Careers, would soon happen to tributes from other districts. The response of those other districts' residents would be to frown, sigh, and keep watching.

The same thing, Eight's children being slaughtered, had happened in previous Hunger Games. The response of District Eight's residents in those earlier years had been to frown, sigh, and keep watching.

But this year, things were different in District Eight. As soon as Spool Paylor had been Reaped, muttered rumors had started that Spool had been the victim of a punitive Reaping. Then last night, that little girl from Twelve had told Caesar Flickerman, in so many words, that she herself maybe had been punitively Reaped.

The result of all the maybe-talk about punitive Reaping?

As soon as Spool died, all of District Eight rioted. It was not a planned thing, so the Peacekeepers' informers had given no warning to the men in white. Peacekeepers in Eight were caught by surprise and, during the next day, some of them died.

* * *

 **Twenty-seven seconds after the Gong  
The mouth of the Cornucopia**

Three Careers were looting the Cornucopia of weapons, while two more were fighting off those outer-district tributes who dared to try the same.

"C'mon, c'mon, hurry it up in there," Cato yelled from the mouth of the Cornucopia, as he and Marvel killed outer-district tributes.

Glimmer absently shoved the corpse of Marlin of Four out of the way with her foot, as she glared at the bow in her hands. "Shit, less than a minute into the Games, and the only weapon for me is leftovers. Clove, let me have some knives, okay?"

Clove's grin was evil. "Suuure, One-Girl. I can give you _one_ of my knives _right now_ —with the tip flying into your eye socket."

Glimmer's hand brushed aside the threat. "Clove, I'll trade you three bottles of water for one of your throwing knives. Five water bottles and some beef jerky for two knives."

Silence from Clove.

Glimmer pouted. "C'mon, I'm asking nicely."

"And I am _not_ -nicely telling you, 'Fuck off.' "

Clove had been storing throwing-knives into pockets of her knife-vest. Now Glimmer's hand shot out, as quick as a snake, and stole a knife from one of the vest's pockets.

"HEY! Give it _back_ , bitch!"

Glimmer smiled. "Tsk, you could've been three water-bottles richer. But _nooo_. Now you're out the water _and_ the knife."

"Oh, really?" Clove said menacingly.

"Really," Glimmer replied with a grin.

"I'll get my knife back," Clove said, glaring at Glimmer, "When I loot your corpse, blondie."

Marina asked, "Glimmer, why do you want a throwing knife when you already have a bow and arrow?"

Glimmer answered Marina with, "Why do you want a weighted net when you already have a knife?"

Before Marina could answer, Glimmer pointed to the back of her new knife. "See this serrated edge? Maybe I've always wanted to build a treehouse."

Cato said, "Everybody armed and dangerous now? Let's go remind the cannonbait districts why their kids never win the Games. _Move out_."

Marina frowned. "Who put _you_ in charge, Two-Boy?"

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
Just beyond the pedestals in the arena**

Prim broke with the plan. She turned right, heading for a yellow backpack under the tail of the Cornucopia.

* * *

Peeta, who was still near the mouth of the Cornucopia, spotted Prim running toward the tail of the Cornucopia.

 _Prim, what are you doing? Go back, go back! Don't put yourself in danger!_

Because Peeta was completely thinking about Prim, he lost awareness of his surroundings. So he was unpleasantly surprised when District Seven's female tribute kicked him in the balls (which hurt somewhat), then she started to amateurishly punch him.

* * *

By the time the Careers ran out of the Cornucopia, ginger-haired Windmilla Finch of District Five was out of (immediate) danger.

Beyond one side of the Cornucopia clearing was a forest; as soon as the Gong had sounded, Windmilla had run straight from her pedestal toward that forest. Correction: She had veered to the left at one point, to stay out of reach of Marvel from One. Windmilla had felt no curiosity to learn how deadly a Career could be while barehanded.

The disadvantage of Windmilla's tactic was that Windmilla now had nothing to help her fight, and only one bottle of water to help her survive. But Windmilla was not worried—she had a clever plan that would solve those problems.

Meanwhile Windmilla, while running for the trees, had (silently) cheered as she had seen Eight's boy-tribute disembowel dislikable Marlin from Four. But as for the rest of the Bloodbath, Windmilla silently watched and learned.

A few outer-district kids were killed by other outer-district kids—the big boy from Eleven used a long-handled sickle to slit the throat of the boy from Seven; and Windmilla's district-partner Turbine had punched the girl from Three in the throat. But the overall situation was the same as it had always been during Windmilla's sixteen years: The inner-district kids got almost all of the food, water, and weapons; and the outer-district kids got almost all of the death.

Now Windmilla watched as five Careers ran out of the mouth of the Cornucopia. Right afterward, little Primrose of Twelve abandoned her safe place near the trees to run toward the tail of the Cornucopia.

 _What can the girl be thinking?_ Windmilla wondered.

* * *

It took roughly seven seconds for Prim to run from outside the pedestals to the yellow backpack that was by the tail of the Cornucopia. In those seven seconds, several things happened, all surprising to Prim—

The _hiss_ of a flying arrow passed behind Prim. Startled Prim glanced over to her right and saw Glimmer facing her and holding a silver bow. Prim thought, _Katniss wouldn't have missed her target_.

Straight ahead, the District Five boy ran to the yellow backpack. He grabbed its handle, stood straight as he lifted the backpack by its handle—Prim thought, _Not fair, I wanted that!_ —then Five-Boy fell down, dropping the backpack as one eye socket grew a knife.

Two seconds later, panting Prim reached the yellow backpack—and the dead boy lying next to that backpack. Prim looked around— _Where did that knife come from?_

Glimmer, thankfully, had turned her aim on other kids. Which meant that two dangers to Prim were now "merely" one: the unknown knife-thrower.

Mr. Abernathy's advice to "loot the dead" had seemed disgusting when Prim had heard it; but now, in mortal danger, Prim did not hesitate. Prim squatted down and her left hand yanked the knife out of Five-Boy's eye. Blood and brains were on the blade of the knife, but this did not bother her.

What _did_ bother Prim was the smell of shit, as frightened and dying teenagers loosened their bowels; the smell of blood; and the screams of agony coming from the other side of the Cornucopia. Those screams were so loud that Prim almost did not hear the words when a teen girl said, "That backpack, it's _mine_."

Clove from Two walked around the tail of the Cornucopia and into Prim's view. Now Clove stood only a meter and a half away from Prim; and Clove held a second knife, by the _blade_ , about to throw it.

* * *

 **Ten meters away**

Peeta leg-swept the girl from Seven, which put her butt on the grass with an _oof!_ Then Peeta staggered away, his testicles still in agony, toward where he had last seen Prim running to.

A second later, he saw Prim. She was standing by a yellow backpack and a dead boy, and holding a knife in her left hand.

 _Did Prim stab that boy?_ Peeta wondered, shocked.

Prim was staring hard at someone; the gold Cornucopia was blocking Peeta from seeing whom it was.

Then Clove sauntered into view. Clove faced Prim with a grin on her face and a throwing knife in her hand.

Peeta thought, _I can't reach Prim in time!_


	10. Bloodbath, Part 2

**Chapter 10**  
 **Bloodbath, Part 2**

 **From every holoprojector**

The main holo-scene being shown of the Hunger Games was three Careers—Marvel, Cato, and Marina—fighting and killing at the mouth of the Cornucopia. (As for Glimmer, she was flitting around outside the Cornucopia, trying to shoot arrows at tributes; once she hit her tribute-target, but the rest of the time she missed. Glimmer's actual kills? None.)

Then a window opened up in the main holo-scene, in the upper-right corner. This new window showed the face-off between Clove Fuhrman of Two and Primrose Everdeen of Twelve.

But this new window was only a small window, for two reasons. This would not be Clove's first kill; and Clove killing Twelve's twelve-year-old goody-two-shoes was a foregone conclusion. Thus to a Capitol audience, the Clove-Primrose "battle" lacked drama.

* * *

 **By the tail of the Cornucopia**

Clove said scornfully, "Put the knife down, child. Don't stick yourself before you die."

Prim thought, _"Child"? When you're only fifteen yourself, Clove?_

Aloud, Prim said, "You seem very—"

Being in danger gave Prim a moment of brilliance: _She can't throw her knife if I'm right up against her_. So Prim rushed forward one-and-a-half meters, surprising Clove.

"—sure that I'd—"

Prim's body bumped into Clove's. Prim held a small hope that she would knock Clove down, then Prim could run away zigzagging without growing a knife in her back.

"—stab myself—"

 _Success!_ Clove's knife now was pressed flat between the two girls' bodies, no danger to Prim at all.

Then Prim felt resistance against her left hand, at the same moment that Clove gasped in pain.

Prim realized that all of her attention had been on Clove's knife, and so Prim had _forgotten_ the knife that she herself held. The same knife that had just made a shallow stab in Clove's right leg.

Accidentally.

 _What would Katniss do?_ Prim wondered.

What Prim did next was no accident. With grisly inspiration, Prim pulled her knife out, and sidestepped to the right as she raised the knife several centimeters. Prim deeply stabbed Clove in the middle of her hips, just above Clove's mons pubis; Prim slashed to the left, then diagonally up and to the left, letting Clove's right inguinal ligament guide her blade. One second later, Clove's right external iliac artery and her right external iliac vein both were severed.

Prim pulled her knife free of Clove's body, sidestepped to the right again, and watched as Clove dropped to the grass.

Blood spurted from the slash-wound for about three or four seconds. Clove did not scream, but she whined—quietly enough that nobody at the mouth of the Cornucopia could hear her. Then the spurting stopped and the whining silenced, except for one last exhalation; Clove was dead.

In death, Clove shit her underwear. Prim the healer was used to the smell of feces—but not _so strong_.

No spurting arterial blood marred Prim's clothing—her sidestepping had avoided this—but some blood-spray speckled the yellow backpack. Prim decided she could live with this.

Prim was surprised to discover that her legs now felt rubbery.

* * *

 **In Mentor Central**

Enobaria leaped up and spun to glare at Haymitch. "What the _fuck_ , Haymitch? Your girl has had _illegal combat training!_ "

"Language!" Effie squeaked fearfully.

Haymitch paused for several seconds, letting the other twenty-one mentors note the irony of a Career mentor complaining about combat training. Then Haymitch drawled, "The only combat training Primrose has ever had, sweetheart, is what the Training Center gave her. _Your_ girl died because Primrose is smart, and Clove was cocky."

Haymitch raised a glass of whiskey to Enobaria in a sarcastic salute.

Effie squeezed Haymitch's shoulder as she murmured in his ear, "I love how you told off Enobaria."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
By the tail of the Cornucopia**

Peeta limped up to Prim. "Are you okay?"

Prim turned to face him. She was healthy and she had no blood on her—which was amazing, because the grass around Clove's corpse was red. But while Prim's body and clothes were in excellent shape, her face looked about to cry. "I _killed_ her, Peeta. Clove—I killed Clove."

"I see that. But Prim, we need to _go_."

"I know," Prim said. "But hold on a little."

Prim turned to face dead Clove. Prim brought her left hand, still holding the bloody-bladed knife, down to her side. Her posture stiffened. She brought her right hand up to her eyebrow, giving a salute like Peeta had seen Peacekeepers on holo give to President Snow. Prim said, "Rest in peace, Clove. You were a worthy opponent."

Prim broke the salute, turned, moved to the left of the backpack, and grabbed one strap of the backpack in her right hand. Peeta grabbed the other strap in his left hand. "Let's go," Prim said, sniffling.

Girl, boy, and backpack moved toward the woods as fast as still-pained Peeta could move.

* * *

Windmilla, who had watched the whole event from the forest, now murmured, " _Whoa_."

* * *

 **Minutes later  
Near the woods**

Prim asked Peeta, "Why are you limping? You're in pain!"

Peeta smiled crookedly. "Seconds after the Gong, just as I was about to run past the Cornucopia, Cato charged me. But instead of him killing me, _I_ put _him_ on the ground. My arm could have crushed his throat, we both realized it, but I didn't. _He_ didn't hurt me at all."

"Then who—?"

"The girl from Seven surprised me. She kicked me in the balls, then started punching me."

Peeta looked up at the sky. " _Thank you_ , Johanna Mason, for training your tribute to be like _you_."

Prim smiled, then her smile disappeared. "Peeta, I _killed_ someone! What do you think my mother and sister will say when they find out?"

Peeta thought about it. "Your mother will understand, I'm sure. I think she'll be glad you're still alive."

"I hope so," Prim said sadly. "Healers aren't supposed to _kill_."

Peeta said, "As for Katniss, she probably already knows. Mr. Berg, who is our high-school principal, I'm sure he's already gone on the public-address system and told the whole school about us."

Peeta looked up at the sky then, as he and Prim hurried toward the trees. Peeta grinned, waved, and said, "Hey, Mr. Berg, assure Katniss her sister is doing fine now. In fact, Prim is better off than me at the moment!"

Then Peeta dropped the clown act. "Prim, when Katniss finds out about Clove, I think she'll understand you better than everybody else in in Twelve will. What was your word for her, _practical_? Katniss is very practical."

Prim said, "I hope Katniss understands. I _hate_ the idea of disappointing my big sister."

By then, Twelve's tributes and Prim's spoils-of-war yellow backpack had reached the edge of the Cornucopia clearing; they entered the forest.

"Now let's go find water," Peeta said.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
At the mouth of the Cornucopia**

Cato was frustrated: the District Ten girl whom he was trying to stab with his sword kept dancing back out of reach. Cato growled, "You are a _worm_ , girl. A _sheep_. Good only for killing. Sooner—"

The cannonbait girl _laughed_ at Cato. In her distinctive Ten accent, she drawled, "One of us _worms_ killed Clove, don't you know?" She pointed behind the Cornucopia. "You Careers aren't so scary now, you're just more of Snow's _rose-lickers_."

Marvel maybe put a spear into Ten-Girl's chest then, but Cato didn't look back to confirm. He was running full speed toward the dead District Two girl on the grass.

" _CLOVE!_ " Cato screamed.

* * *

 **Fifteen minutes later  
Back in the mouth of the Cornucopia**

The scrawny District Three boy was talking to Marina for some reason. Cato did not know why, or care.

Other than Three-Boy, all the tributes who were not Careers had either run off or died. The Bloodbath was over.

 _ALMOST over_ , Cato corrected in his thoughts. _I still have a score to settle_.

Cato and Marvel dragged the corpses of Marlin from Four, and the District Eight boy who had killed him, out of the Cornucopia so that the hovercrafts could recover their bodies.

With that done, Cato counted corpses. Including Clove— _The bitch who killed Clove will soon wish she hadn't!_ —and Marlin, twelve tributes had died. This was the good news. The bad news was, two of the dead were Careers.

Cato walked over to Glimmer, who was separating Cornucopia goodies into piles: food, water, sleeping bags and blankets, tents, fire-starters, night-vision glasses—and of course weapons.

When Glimmer saw Cato, she said, "I'm sorry about Clove."

"Yeah," Cato said. After a few seconds of mutual silence, he said, "Can I see your knife? The one you took from Clove?"

With no hesitation, Glimmer handed over the knife. Its blade looked shiny and clean.

Cato growled, "I see you wiped it clean."

" _What?_ " Glimmer said. She looked confused, but now she also looked wary. She had been kneeling; now she stood.

"Glimmer, cut the act. I know you've always been _jealous_ —"

Glimmer knew better than to turn and run; turning your back on a Career was always stupid. Instead, Glimmer tried to back away from Cato. That was a fine plan—until she tripped over a rolled-up sleeping bag.

One second later, Glimmer lay on her back, on the floor of the Cornucopia. Her left shoulder was lying on some boy's blood.

Two seconds after that, Glimmer's own blood was pooling underneath her.

After stabbing Glimmer, Cato stood up. "You killed Clove, slut, so it's only fair that you die by Clove's knife."

Glimmer's last words were: "But I _didn't_..."

"I believe you, Glimmer," Marina said in an angry voice. Marina was looking at Cato with anger, but was not making a threatening gesture with a weapon.

Marvel said to Cato, "I should kill you right now," even as Marvel rotated his spear to parade-position.

Three-Boy did not say anything; he just trembled, and he had a wet spot in the front of his pants.

Marvel said to Marina, "Will you help me carry Glimmer outside?" Then he said to Cato, " _You_ , stand aside. If you touch her with even one finger, we go to melee right now, _got me?_ "

"Whatever," Cato said, annoyed at being disrespected.

Cato was still holding the bloody knife. He walked over to Glimmer's bow; Cato cut the bowstring. Cato dropped the knife, then grabbed the quiver. Six times, Cato yanked an arrow out of the quiver and broke the arrow in half.

Meanwhile, Marina and Marvel were carrying Glimmer's corpse out of the Cornucopia. Three-Boy said, "Um, Marina? That offer I made? I've changed my mind."

Three-Boy backed out of the Cornucopia, his eyes on Cato the entire time. When Three-Boy was thirty meters away from Cato, only then did the scrawny boy turn to run away.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in District Twelve**

Head Peacekeeper Cray was in the Hob, eating a bowl of soup that he had "persuaded" Greasy Sae to give him for free. Purnia ran up to Cray then, looking panicked.

Purnia panted out, "Head, _Snow_ called, wanting to talk to you. He said he'd call back in ten minutes, and this was _three minutes ago!_ "

 _Why is Snow calling me back?_ Cray wondered.

As Cray and Purnia ran off, Greasy Sae yelled, "Next time, _pay_ for the soup, you hear?"

* * *

 **Seven minutes later  
Cray's office**

The telephone rang on Cray's desk.

Taking a shaky breath, Cray picked up the receiver. Instead of his usual _Yeah, it's Cray_ , the Head Peacekeeper said formally, "This is Peacekeeper Captain Cray, District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks."

Snow's first words were: "Captain Cray, I maybe have a problem with you."

Cray gulped.

Then he asked, "What kind of problem, Mr. President?"

"Last night, you assured me that the Reaping of Miss Primrose Everdeen was not rigged by you or any other Peacekeeper there, that her Reaping was done properly."

"Yes, sir, I told you that."

"Do you wish to amend your statement now?" President Snow asked calmly.

"No, Mr. President, I stand behind what I said." _Though it might bring me an Avoxing—or worse_.

Snow calmly said, "Rioting has broken out in District Eight, Captain Cray. My best intelligence says the reason for the riot is that the Eights are convinced that the District Eight male tribute, Spool Paylor, who died in the Bloodbath, was punitively Reaped."

"Mr. President, I did not rig the Reaping against Primrose Everdeen!"

"Victor Abernathy and Mayor Undersee both tell me you did."

"Abernathy the drunk? _I_ wouldn't believe him if he told me the sun is yellow. As for Mayor Undersee, he is _way_ too loyal to his district."

"And Mayor Undersee's daughter sometimes has spoken sentences of questionable loyalty. I am aware of these men's faults."

"Great, so—"

"But here are facts: Miss Katniss Everdeen missed the Reaping due to alleged fatal illness, Dr. Picardo examined her at your insistence, you stated before witnesses that you thought Miss Everdeen was 'faking' illness with the aid of her mother, and Dr. Picardo did not issue his diagnosis of Miss Katniss Everdeen until Miss Primrose Everdeen had been Reaped."

"Mister President, I was _sure_ he was going to take five minutes there in the shack, then give Everdeen back to me with 'She's faking the whole thing.' Worst case, I figured he'd examine her there in the shack, then say, 'She's really dying.' I _never_ expected Picardo to haul her off to his clinic and spend all afternoon and all night with her!" Cray's voice shifted to a leer: "There's _something funny_ about that, but I can't prove it."

Snow sounded annoyed now: " _Stop_ , Captain Cray. I have thoroughly investigated Dr. Picardo's part in this. He gave Miss Everdeen a complete examination, then he gave her an expensive cure, which was needlessly generous of him. But I have heard not even a whisper that _he_ takes sexual advantage of women for whom he is responsible." _Unlike you_ was unstated but was clearly implied.

Cray gulped again. If Snow knew about Cray whoremongering with desperate District Twelve girls, what else did the president know?

Snow continued, "I am putting you on notice, Captain Cray. If rioting breaks out in District Twelve, I will hold _you_ directly responsible. You are encouraged to prevent this. If this means that you apologize to Miss Katniss Everdeen, do it. If this means you let Miss Everdeen kick you in the shin, do it. Certainly this means that you stop abusing your position. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Mr. President, _very_ clear."

"One last thing. Do you have pen and paper on your desk?"

"Yes, Mister President."

"Miss Katniss Everdeen—I want you to gather up her last three identification photographs, and her complete DNA profile. Email them to the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane."

"To the _Head Gamemaker_ , did you say?"

"Here's the email address to use: scrane .pnm. I told him to expect an email from you soon."

"I'll get right on it, Mr. President."

"See that you do," Snow said. _Click_.

As sweaty-hands Cray hung up the telephone receiver, his first thought was, _This is totally fucked up. As much shit as I've pulled in this dusty, stinky district, I could be Avoxed, or even shot in the back of the head, for something I_ didn't _do? Primrose Everdeen was Reaped because of bad luck, not because of me! Dammit, it's unfair that nobody will believe me!_

Cray's second thought was, _I wonder why the Head Gamemaker wants Katniss Everdeen's pictures and DNA?_


	11. Robbing Killers

NOTE TO READERS: While killing off Clove makes things better for Peeta and Prim in most ways, now there will never be a change in the rules to allow two tributes from the same district to win. In canon, this rule, besides giving hope to Katniss and Peeta, also could have sent Cato and Clove home as co-Victors (till Thresh killed Clove).

 **Chapter 11**  
 **Robbing Killers**

 **Later that afternoon, in the arena**

What was in Prim's hard-won yellow backpack?

One thin black sleeping bag that reflected body heat. A pack of crackers. A pack of dried beef strips. A bottle of tincture of iodine. A box of wooden matches. A small coil of wire. A pair of sunglasses. And a half-gallon plastic bottle with a cap for carrying water that was bone dry.

The Careers at the Cornucopia spotted Peeta when he emerged from the woods and headed to the lakeshore, water bottle in hand. But where Peeta emerged was so far away from the Careers that he was out of spearing range, so there was no point in trying to kill him. _Then_.

While Peeta and Prim were waiting for the drops of iodine to make the water drinkable, Prim mentioned that while he had been braving the Careers to get water, she had experimented with the sunglasses—

—except that, whatever the things were, they were _not_ sunglasses. Prim reported that when she put the glasses on, "Things look funny."

Peeta said, "Oh? Can I take a look?"

Two minutes later, he handed the glasses back to Prim. "Anything bright—like sky or the tops of trees—stays looking bright. But anything really dark—like the underside of bushes—when I'm wearing the glasses, the underside of the bushes is lit with soft light. I can see brown dirt, and bugs crawling in the dirt."

"That's weird," Prim replied. "Why would the Gamemakers give us glasses that put fake light under bushes?"

* * *

 **Later, at dusk in the arena**

Peeta said to Prim, "Can I see your strange glasses again, please?"

There was barely enough light for Prim to see Peeta's outstretched hand. She unzipped the backpack, felt around in the darkness inside the backpack, then handed the glasses to Peeta.

Seconds later, Peeta began quietly singing: " _Capitol party, party, oh! Let's have a party, party, yeah! Toniiight!_ "

Prim was confused. "Why are you singing?"

Peeta, instead of directly answering, said, "Hold your head still."

Seconds later, Prim felt Peeta sliding the glasses onto her face—

—and she could see. _Everything_. Leaves, bark, grass, a rabbit, and an owl in a tree—all were easily seen in full color, in shadowless light. She could see Peeta standing right in front of her, grinning like a fool.

"Let's go spy on the Cornucopia," Peeta said. "I think I have an idea."

As Peeta and Prim moved back toward the Cornucopia clearing, from time to time Prim heard tree branches rustle overhead. Prim did not wonder what was making the noises, and she did not look up.

* * *

 **Sometime later**

Prim, along with Peeta, was now just beyond the Cornucopia clearing. Peeta was passing the darkness-vision glasses to Prim when she heard Claudius Templesmith's voice—

"Attention, tributes. Mandatory Viewing begins in the districts in five minutes. Every tribute will be live on camera at least once during Mandatory Viewing."

* * *

 **Seconds later  
Soon before night-time Mandatory Viewing  
Day One of the 74th Hunger Games  
The Square, District Twelve**

Katniss joined Gale and Madge at "their" spot in the Square. Katniss was thankful that when she arrived, Gale was not loudly arguing with Madge—in fact, Katniss's two friends seemed to be quietly talking.

Suddenly Gale turned to Katniss. "Mr. Berg said Prim killed Clove. Do you believe that?"

"I don't know," Katniss replied. Prim killing a Career girl seemed to Katniss to be ten different ways _impossible_.

So saying, Katniss turned her attention to the current holo image.

For five minutes, while Katniss waited for Mandatory Viewing to begin, Katniss was treated to a live view of three Careers eating canned fruit. _How exciting_.

The three Careers were sitting by the Cornucopia, eating canned fruit and hotly arguing about some offer that the District Three boy-tribute had made. Marvel and Cato were basically saying, "Fuck that asshole"; while Marina was saying in essence, "You two are stupid." Katniss did not understand what the Careers' argument was about, and she did not care. (Besides Clove being absent, Glimmer and Marlin were not shown and they were not mentioned, which Katniss thought was odd.)

Five minutes of showing three Careers arguing meant five minutes when the outer-district tributes were _not_ shown. Katniss wanted to shoot an arrow near a Gamemaker's head— _What is the news with Prim?_

Finally, the national anthem sounded, as red block letters appeared that spelled out "MANDATORY VIEWING." At last, Katniss would get answers.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
Public Square Number 1, District Two**

Before Mandatory Viewing had started, some in the crowd had said, "The little girl from Twelve killed our Clove."

Some people had replied, "You're lying."

Most others replied, "The girl must have cheated. I'll bet she smuggled in a gun or something."

Then the show started. After the usual blah-blah by Claudius Templesmith, the Gong sounded, beginning the recap of the Bloodbath.

The crowd in Two cheered when they saw Cato run toward the boy from Twelve. Then the crowd's cheers turned to gasps when the Twelve boy knocked Cato onto his back and landed on top of him. The Twelve boy laid his forearm on Cato's throat. All he had to do was to press down hard, and Cato would be First to Die.

* * *

 **The Square, District Twelve**

The face of Hologram-Cato showed fear. He was completely at Hologram-Peeta's mercy, and the Career boy clearly expected no mercy.

Katniss and everyone else in the Square yelled at Hologram-Peeta, "Kill him!"

Instead, Hologram-Peeta grinned at Two-Boy, jumped up, and ran away. A second later, Two-Boy jumped up and ran into the mouth of the Cornucopia.

Gale griped, "Peeta, you're stupid."

Katniss said, "No, he's _Peeta_."

Madge said, "Peeta, _now_ is not the time to be _nice_."

* * *

 **Sometime later in Twelve's Square**

As soon as the Gong had sounded, Hologram-Prim had run outside of the circle of pedestals, headed for the trees.

Then, before reaching the trees, Hologram-Prim stopped dead. She looked at the trees some of the time, but most of the time Hologram-Prim's attention was on things to her right.

Katniss sucked in air through her teeth. "Prim, what are you _doing?_ "

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
Public Square No. 1, District Two**

On holo, Cato had killed two cannonbait kids by the time that Clove emerged from the mouth of the Cornucopia. But Clove clearly was determined to make up for lost time.

 _Swip!_ Only a few meters out of the Cornucopia, Clove put down Nine-Boy with a knife-throw.

For some reason, the recap was giving camera time to the little blond Twelve girl, who had been standing still, totally undecided, just beyond the pedestals. Now she began sprinting toward a yellow backpack by the tail of the Cornucopia. Too bad for her, Five-Boy reached it first.

Meanwhile, Clove was running along the length of the Cornucopia. Clove's second knife-throw— _swip!_ —killed Five-Boy, who had just found himself a fat yellow backpack.

Clove walked past the tail of the Cornucopia, intending to claim her prize—and found herself face-to-face with the tiny blonde from Twelve. Who was holding Clove's just-thrown knife in her left hand.

"Give the girl points for bravery," someone said in Square No. 1.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
The Square, District Twelve**

People in the crowd were murmuring fearfully.

Katniss yelled out, "Don't worry, folks, it's not what it looks like."

The recap briefly showed Peeta. His face showed pain, and he was limping. The camera angle changed, and viewers could see that limping Peeta was ten meters away from Prim and Clove—nowhere near close enough.

Someone in the crowd said, "Poor girl's dead meat."

Katniss wondered, _Prim, how did you possibly get out of this?_

That's when Prim suddenly ran up to Clove, then twice sidestepped to the right. Katniss was not clear what Prim had done with her knife, except that it had killed Clove in five seconds.

In District Twelve's Square, people's cheers were _loud_.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
Public Square No. 1, District Two**

The District Two crowd was stunned into silence. Quarry workers, on-duty Peacekeepers, off-duty Peacekeepers, Peacekeeper-cadets—all were silent and were staring at the holoprojection.

Just as silent, just as stunned, were Two's Victors and the learners at the Secret Academy. They all were stunned because they all _knew_ that Primrose Everdeen should be dead now.

Everyone at the Secret Academy knew counterattacks for attempted heart-stabs and attempted throat-slashings; had Primrose Everdeen attempted either of those, it would be _she_ lying dead on the grass afterward. Had Primrose disemboweled Clove, this would have killed Clove—eventually. But before then, Clove would have screamed, and the screaming would have brought the other Careers at a run. Primrose would have been dead before she had reached the trees.

Instead, Primrose had done ... _something_. Something with her blade held low enough that Clove's eyes had never looked at Primrose's knife till it was too late. Something that had killed Clove in seconds, without Clove getting a chance to scream. Something murderously brilliant.

Not to mention, the Secret Academy taught that the way to undo a knife-thrower's advantage was to immobilize the throwing arm—which is exactly what little Primrose had done. _Who had taught her this move?_

Somehow, this twelve-year-old cannonbait girl had out-Careered a Career.

Then, while the people of Two were staring in shock at tiny blond Primrose Everdeen, the girl shocked them again.

After a brief conversation with her district partner, Hologram-Primrose turned, came to almost-perfect attention, and _saluted_ dead Clove. It was not a Peacekeeper-academy salute, because the girl had not been taught the fine points, but her gesture could be mistaken for nothing else.

" _Whoa_ ," people in District Two's central Square said.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
The Square, District Twelve**

" _Whoa_ ," people in District Twelve's Square said.

Gale muttered, "Shit, Prim, if you're going to salute dead tributes, don't salute the Careers, salute the kids they killed."

" _Hush!_ " Katniss said. She had never felt more proud of her sister.

Madge said, "Katniss, Gale has a point."

Katniss snapped, "Prim did it because she's _nice_."

Madge replied, "Being nice to Careers is _foolish_. Gale is right."

Katniss glared at Madge. "Are you saying _my sister_ is foolish?"

Katniss had asked the question to Madge, but it was Gale who answered: "It's pretty obvious you haven't spent enough time with Prim telling her how the world _really_ is."

Now Katniss glared at Gale. "So not only is Prim wrong to salute a dead Career, but now it's _my fault?_ Some friend _you_ are."

* * *

 **Later, at night in the arena**

The Capitol, the districts, and the surviving arena tributes all were given the same list of Day One dead tributes at the same time. Viewers in the Capitol and the districts saw holographic replays of how each tribute had died; the arena tributes saw only a series of head shots in the night sky, showing the face of a boy or a girl with the district number underneath.

This year's Hunger Games had an unusually murderous Day One body count of thirteen—

• District One female (Glimmer);  
• District Two female (Clove);  
• District Three female;  
• District Four male (Marlin);  
• District Five male;  
• both District Six tributes;  
• both District Seven tributes;  
• District Eight male;  
• both District Nine tributes; and  
• District Ten female.

* * *

 **At the Cornucopia**

After the three Careers had stepped outside to see the listing of the "fallen"— _They didn't fall down_ , Cato thought, _some of them I killed!_ —the Careers gathered inside the Cornucopia. Their purpose: to decide who would hunt and who would stay behind.

Two of the Careers would put on darkness-vision glasses and would hunt down cannonbait tributes, while one would stay behind and would guard their goodies. One spin of an empty water bottle would determine who did what tonight.

Marvel gave the bottle a hard spin. When the bottle finally stopped, it was pointing at Cato.

"How about best two out of three?" Cato said. "Or three out of five?"

Marina said, "Jeez, quit being a baby. One spin, you lost, suck it up."

" _Fine_ ," grumbled Cato.

Marvel and Marina had not taken ten steps out of the night-dark Cornucopia before Cato called out, "Hey, wait up." He ran up to the other two, darkness-vision glasses on his face and a sword in his hand.

"What are you _doing?_ " Marina said. "You're supposed to be guarding our stuff. You know, our firewood, and spare weapons, and _sleeping bags_ , and _food_ , and _water?_ So nobody _steals them?_ "

"Yeah, well, right now we're all on holo. District Two is watching us. And I do _not_ want Two to see _you guys_ getting the glory tonight while _I_ , the most vicious killer the Hunger Games has ever seen, spend all night guarding water bottles and canned peaches!"

"Doesn't matter," Marvel said. "We spun, you lost, and this needs to be done. _Stay_."

"What am I, a fucking _dog?_ " Cato snapped.

Both Marvel and Marina stepped back and went to Ready posture. Marina looked eager to throw her weighted net.

 _I might have gone too far_ , Cato thought. Aloud, he said, "Guys, look. What always happens on the first day? The cannonbait tributes _hide_ , and then at night we Careers hunt them down."

"Yeah, so?" Marina said.

"So take off your glasses and look around. This arena has no artificial moon and no artificial stars. It is _dark_ in this place. No cannonbait kids will be camping anywhere near here, 'cause they're scared of _us_ , and nobody except _us_ will be walking around in this darkness. Other nights, yeah, we'll need to stand guard. I'll be a good boy and stand guard on Night Two, I swear. But _tonight?_ Guard duty is a total waste of my time."

Marvel said, "Wow, Cato, that was a better argument than I expected. Maybe you're not as stupid as I thought. But we still need a guard tonight. Get going."

Cato put anger in his voice: "I _am_ going with you guys, and you can't _make_ me do otherwise. _Got me?_ "

"Fuck," said Marina. " _Fine_ , you can come. But if anything is missing tomorrow morning, it's on you."

"I can live with that," Cato said.

The surviving three Careers walked away from the Cornucopia, leaving it unguarded.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
Just beyond the Cornucopia clearing**

Marina said, "...But if anything is missing tomorrow morning, it's on you."

"I can live with that," Cato said.

Prim was wearing the darkness-vision glasses at the moment, so Peeta could not see the three Careers as they argued. But Peeta could _hear_ the argument well enough.

A few minutes later, Prim announced, "They're gone. They walked around the corner of the woods, to where the woods face the lakeshore."

Peeta said, "If that's where they're going, they can't see the Cornucopia. Prim, I have an idea, but it's dangerous."

"What's the idea?"

"What would Katniss do right now if she were here? Close to the Cornucopia, which is stocked with goodies, and all the Careers are gone, and Katniss has darkness-vision glasses. What would she do?"

Peeta could not see Prim's grin, but he could hear it: "Katniss would raid the Cornucopia. Because she's brave."

"Are _we_ brave? Because as soon as we break cover, we're risking our lives."

" _Hm_ ," Prim said.

Peeta said, "It's your choice. I've told you that I will die to protect you, and it's easier to keep you alive if we don't do anything risky. But I also remember Haymitch told us we won't win unless we go on the offensive. Plus, I don't think we'll get this chance again."

Prim said, "Haymitch _did_ say this. Is Mandatory Viewing still on?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Because it means Katniss is watching, and I want Katniss to know that her sister can be brave too. Let's do this."

* * *

Prim gave Peeta the glasses, then Peeta took her right hand with his left hand. With them each holding a knife in their free hand, they ran for the mouth of the Cornucopia.

When they got to the mouth of the Cornucopia—unchallenged—Peeta looked into the darkness and said, "Yes, yes, _yes!_ "

Peeta let go of Prim's hand. "Stay here," he said. "I'll be back in a few seconds."

Soon Peeta said, "Here are your glasses back." Prim felt her darkness-vision glasses being slid onto her face.

In the artificial light, the first thing that Prim saw was that Peeta was wearing darkness-vision glasses too.

The very next thing Prim noticed was—

"Look at all this stuff! Peeta, you and I could live for _weeks_ with this!"

"Would you be willing to share it?" a girl's voice asked.

Prim and Peeta both spun around. Standing a few meters away was Windmilla Finch.

Windmilla said, "I'll be your ally if you'll let me take some of this."

Prim said, "I thought you were a loner."

"I was. I am. But since I saw you kill Clove, I've been trying to decide whether to join your team."

"Hold on, _she_ killed Clove?" a second stranger-girl voice said. Rue from District Eleven stepped into view.

Windmilla replied, "You should have seen it. One moment Clove was grinning like an evil witch; a few seconds later, she was on her back, spurting blood a meter into the air."

" _Whoa_ ," Rue said.

"Anyway, about the alliance?" Windmilla prompted.

Prim and Peeta shared a look. Prim could tell that Peeta was not entirely sold on Windmilla—Prim was not sure about the redhead either—but after a few seconds, Prim said, "Sure."

" _Both_ of you, welcome," Peeta added. Then he said, "You girls stay where you are. Don't move your heads."

A few seconds later, Windmilla gasped with delight when darkness-vision glasses were slid onto her face. Rue said, " _Ha!_ Nobody can make me give _these_ glasses back at dawn, Mr. Albertson!"

In the artificial light, Prim saw Peeta rub his hands together, and not only because of the cold. "Can you believe there is a _tent_ in here, just waiting to be put up? And _stacked firewood_ , when nobody else dares light a fire? And _canned apples?_ Do you know how many PDs _one_ can of apples costs my father?"

Rue said, "In Eleven, we can't buy canned apples at all."

" _Aggh!_ " Prim said. She had made an anguished discovery.

Everyone looked over, as Prim held up Glimmer's bow. "A perfectly good bow, with its bowstring cut. Along with six arrows, broken in half."

Peeta said, "I guess the Careers figured if they can't use the bow and arrows, nobody else should be able to."

Windmilla said, "Flip this around, folks. Can any of us use the tent? A tent says to the Careers, 'Helpless tribute inside.' Can any of us use this firewood? So what we don't take with us, let's destroy."

Peeta grinned. " _Great_ idea, Windmilla. I'll start with the firewood; _waterlogged_ wood won't burn."

So saying, Peeta picked up a cut log in each hand and walked toward the lake. In time with his walking, he sang—

 _Dance to a clappin' beat (clap),  
Ev'ryone move your feet (clap),  
Dance with a person sweet (clap),  
Capitol party, party, oh! Let's have a party, party, yeah! Toniiight!_

When Peeta returned empty-handed to the Cornucopia, Windmilla was biting her lip and winding a lock of her red hair around a finger. "Those logs look heavy, yet you carry them easily. You're strong."

Prim said, "Windmilla, Peeta likes my sister. Cool it."

* * *

 **The Square, District Twelve**

Katniss did not say anything about Hologram-Windmilla's antics. But Katniss scowled, and her fists were clenched.

Madge remarked to Gale, "I think our friend is jealous of Peeta's new friend."

Katniss said, " _Me_ , jealous of that fox-faced bitch? Not even slightly."

* * *

 **In the arena**

Rue asked, "What is that song you're singing?"

Peeta said, "It's an old song that Mother sometimes dances to. Mother likes lots of Capitol dance songs."

* * *

 **The Square, District Twelve**

The people in the Square went graveyard-silent. Everyone turned disapproving eyes upon Medea Mellark.

In the crowd, Katniss wondered whether Peeta had said those last few words deliberately. Or did he have no idea of the effect his words could have?

* * *

 **Later  
In the districts**

Four minutes after Marvel speared Wattson of District Three, Mandatory Viewing ended in the districts.

In some districts, people immediately turned off their home holoprojectors or hurried home from the district's square(s).

But in Districts One, Two, Four, Five, Eleven, and Twelve, eyeballs remained glued to the images projected, and hardly anyone left their Square to go home.

Of course, the reason _why_ the images were so fascinating, differed.

In the Career districts, district residents kept hoping that the cannonbait thieves of the inner-district tributes' deserved property would be caught and would suffer nasty justice.

In Districts Five, Eleven, and Twelve, district residents watched with glee as their tribute or tributes stuck a thumb in the eye of those hated Careers.

* * *

 **At the Cornucopia, in the arena**

A single cannon sounded in the distance.

Meanwhile, Peeta claimed one of the spare swords, but Prim, Windmilla, and Rue each refused a sword. The spare swords eventually were thrown in the lake.

Prim filled an empty backpack with all the medicine and medical supplies in the Cornucopia. She remarked, "Peeta, if I could somehow ship this backpack to District Twelve, _my_ mother would be out-dancing _your_ mother!"

Also hauled by Prim: the six half-arrows with nasty arrowheads at one end. Peeta packed those into the backpack _very_ carefully.

For some reason, Windmilla claimed the other six half-arrows (the sticks with fletching on them).

The food and water were equally split four ways. Everyone except Prim took a never-used sleeping bag.

When everyone had made their claims, the only things unclaimed by the tributes of the new alliance, and not already ruined, were three sleeping bags and one two-person green tent. Soon three girls and one boy were dancing and slashing as they sung Peeta's mother's dancing-song.

After this, the four tributes of the Cornucopia Raider Alliance left the Cornucopia, each with his or her new goodies. Left behind outside the Cornucopia: a pile of useless cloth.

Sometime after midnight, Rue told the alliance that someone deep in the forest had started a campfire. Later, during twilight, the second cannon of the night sounded. Soon after this, the distant campfire went out.

* * *

 **Several hours later  
Dawn of Day Two of the 74th Hunger Games  
Two hundred meters from the Cornucopia**

As the three Careers emerged from the woods, Marvel snapped at Cato, "Was there 'glory' enough for you? We were up all night, with only two kills to show for it."

Cato grunted. "Three-Boy and Eight-Girl were _too easy_. No challenge."

Marina yelled, "Something's in front of the Cornucopia!" She took off running. Cato and Marvel soon ran past her.

What was in front in the Cornucopia turned out to be the two-person green tent, now slashed to pieces; three sleeping bags, now slashed to total uselessness; and the cut-string bow, now bent down into a bell-shape and quite useless.

Everything else that had been in the Cornucopia was _gone_.

Marvel shoved Cato hard enough that Cato fell on his butt. Marvel yelled, " 'We don't need a guard,' huh? 'No scaredy-cat tributes will come _near_ this place,' huh? What are we going to do for _food?_ I sure didn't notice _you_ at the Edible Plants station!"

Cato stood up (slowly), then he grinned at the other two Careers. "What will we do for food? I'll show you."

Cato jogged off toward the woods. He walked back a few minutes later, carrying something in his cupped hand.

Cato said, "Over there"—he pointed—"just beyond the clearing, are blueberry shrubs. What a mindfuck by the Gamemakers! Plenty of food to keep the cannonbait kids alive, but they don't dare stop and pick blueberries because _we_ will hunt down any kid who tries it."

Marina asked, "These berries, you sure they're edible?"

"Trust me, sweetie, I've figured out how Gamemakers think. Watch."

* * *

 **Seconds later**

When the cannon sounded, sentry Windmilla muttered, "What an idiot."

* * *

Marvel and Marina discovered one more unpleasant surprise when they walked into the Cornucopia to grab some daytime sleep.

Laying on the floor were six broken-arrow-halves. They had been placed to spell out _F U_.

* * *

 **A little after 9 a.m.  
Day Two of the 74th Hunger Games  
The Games Center, the Capitol**

Seneca Crane was sleeping on the cot in his office when his shoulder was shaken. Opening his eyes, Crane saw that his awakener was the Assistant Head Gamemaker.

"Yes, Plutarch?" Crane said, while craving sleep.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir, but President Snow is on the telephone."

 _Peachy_ , Crane thought. _Doesn't he understand I've been up all night?_

Crane insincerely thanked Heavensbee, sat down in his office chair, then waited till Heavensbee had left his office.

Crane glanced at his desktop clock. _Jeez, only one hour and seventeen minutes of sleep_. Crane sighed.

Crane picked up his telephone and pushed the flashing "Line 1" button. "Good morning, Mr. President."

"Mr. Crane, do you remember why we have the Hunger Games? What purpose they serve?"

"To provide entertainment for the Capitol and punishment to the districts."

"Punishment, yes. During the Dark Days, the outer districts were the most rebellious. So now the outer districts should receive the most punishment, should they not?"

"Yes, Mr. President, this makes sense."

"So how is it that in these Games, Districts Five, Eleven, and Twelve are flush with food, water, and medicine, while District One and District Four tributes sleep shivering on a bare floor? How is it that last night, four outer-district tributes were _singing and dancing_ in the Cornucopia?"

Crane took a deep breath. "Because Cato Ludwig proved himself to be the king of fools, but the other tributes of the inner-district alliance went along with his foolishness."

"This might be true. But these four outer-district tributes have turned the inner-district tributes into laughingstocks, and by extension, the Capitol into a laughingstock. _You_ shall fix this. _You_ shall do _whatever it takes_ to humble the rebellious tributes, and you shall give the tributes of District Twelve _special_ attention. Do you have any questions about what I require?"

"No questions, Mr. President."

" _If_ somehow Miss Everdeen and Mr. Mellark emerge unscathed from your attentions, how is our backup plan coming? Project Katniss?"

"We had a problem with the language-learning app, but we think we've fixed the problem. We think we can deploy the muttation sometime between arena noon of Day Three and arena noon of Day Four."

"We cannot deploy the muttation sooner?"

"Not without risking a mistake, no."

"Disappointing, but I trust you know best. Goodbye."

Seconds later, Crane was back on his cot, but he could not fall asleep.


	12. Ships Afloat

This is the "dry-dock" chapter, in which I work on 'ships.

 **Chapter 12**  
 **'Ships Afloat**

 **An hour earlier  
** **District Twelve High School**

In District Twelve, local time was two hours ahead of arena time. So it was early morning locally when Cato died.

The high school had been in session for a half-hour when Mr. Berg's voice came over the public-address system: "Attention, teachers and students. In the Hunger Games, Cato of District Two is dead."

Mr. Berg wisely did not speak while the entire school shook with yells, stomps, and applause.

When things quieted down, Mr. Berg continued, "So now both of District Twelve's tributes, Peeta Mellark and Primrose Everdeen, are in the Final Eight."

Mr. Berg again paused while the school cheered.

"What this means is that our tributes' friends and family will be interviewed by reporters from the Capitol. I have already received several telephone calls requesting that Yeast Mellark and Katniss Everdeen be taken out of school and be made available for interviews."

Now students did not cheer, they hissed—but quietly.

"I have refused to do this. Since I have legal authority to ban anyone who is not a student, parent, faculty member, or Peacekeeper from this school, the reporters shall not come in here. Which means, while school is in session, nobody will bother any of you; and especially, nobody will bother Yeast Mellark or Katniss Everdeen. I promise you this."

Again Mr. Berg paused for cheers.

"However, once school lets out, you're on your own."

As Katniss sat in Pre-Panem History class and listened to Mr. Berg's announcement, she felt panic. Katniss's left hand wrote in the margin of her notebook, "Prim and I are _so_ doomed."

* * *

 **An hour later  
** **(Early morning, local time)  
** **Mentor Central, the Games Center  
** **The Capitol**

"Good morning, everyone," Effie said as she walked in. Effie was wearing a big smile. It was hard to tell with Effie's smiles, Haymitch knew, but this morning, her big smile looked _genuine_.

Effie now walked over to where Haymitch, Solara Bixby of Five, and Seeder Bond of Eleven had linked their mentor-desks together, after their tributes had allied. As Effie walked, she looked over at the Status Wall.

The tribute-locator map showed that One-M and Four-F were inside the Cornucopia (presumably doing daytime sleeping); while Ten-M and Eleven-M were far away from the Cornucopia, and from anyone else. The Broadcast screen showed Peeta, Prim, and Windmilla sitting under a tree and calmly talking, all beneath a clear blue sky; Rue was talking to them from a thick bottom limb of that same tree.

Still with a big grin, Effie in Mentor Central turned back to Haymitch and said, "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

" _You're_ in a good mood, sweetheart," Haymitch said, amused. "How come?"

"Because I have sponsor pledges in my purse," Effie replied. She opened her purse, removed folded papers, and laid them on Haymitch's mentor-desk. "I didn't have to do a thing; _sponsors_ came to _me_."

"Ignore me while I quietly turn green with envy," Solara said, smiling. "How did _this_ happen?"

As Effie sat down next to Haymitch, she said, "Last night, I was at a party—"

"Figures," said Haymitch.

"—and of course a holoprojector was on, showing the Games."

"Of course," Haymitch said. "It's the best _entertainment_ there is."

Effie shot Haymitch a warning look, but continued. "When Peeta and Primrose were about to raid the Cornucopia, the party _stopped_. Everyone stopped talking and stopped dancing; _everyone_ watched the holo. And when the plan worked, when Peeta and Prim got goodies and shared those goodies with those two other girls—oh, you should have seen the hugging, the cheering! It was beautiful."

Haymitch said, "Because of our kids? It's great they got to seem like heroes."

"Afterward, several people walked up to me, telling me how smart Peeta was and how brave Primrose was, and how both children gave credit to Primrose's sister and this was adorable, and how could the person who was talking to me, sponsor Peeta and Primrose both?"

"Envy, envy," said smiling Solara.

"But this wasn't the _best_ part of last night."

Solara asked, "What could be better than getting sponsor pledges without trying?"

Effie's purse was still open. She reached into her purse and pulled out a record/play minibox. It too was laid on Haymitch's mentor-desk. As Effie did this, she said, "The hostess had the song and she remembered how to dance to it. She taught us, after our four tributes danced the song. So _everyone_ at the party danced to Peeta's song. And Haymitch—"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Haymitch did _not_ like the way Effie now was looking at him.

"Haymitch, _I'm_ going to teach _you_ how to dance this song."

As Haymitch's face turned red, six other Victors hooted and clapped.

When the noise dropped, Haymitch said, " _Not so fast_ , princess. This song came out a few years after I was crowned Victor, yeah? I didn't learn how to dance the song _then_ , and I ain't gonna learn how to dance it _now_."

Effie shot Haymitch her _you're a child_ look. "But Peeta sang that song, and both Peeta and Primrose danced to it. When you and I go on holo, the host will expect _us_ to dance to it." Effie put her hands on her hips. "Also, it would be _rude_ not to honor our tributes this way."

Chaff grinned over at Haymitch. "Flickerman's a great dancer, I hear. If _you_ won't dance that dance with Effie, I'll bet _Caesar_ will, while you look like a coal-grubber _hick_."

Haymitch hated it when either he or his tributes were called "coal-grubbers" or "hicks." So after glancing over at the Status Wall—still clear blue sky in the arena, still no fights, still no fights about to start—Haymitch growled, "Fine. Teach me the dance."

Effie grinned at Haymitch. She played "Capitol Party Party" through once, from beginning to end. Then she played the song again, quietly, as she demonstrated, "Here's how the man is supposed to move in the dance—"

"Except, princess, no _man_ would be dancing those steps in 12-centimeter heels."

Chaff laughed. "In the _Capitol?_ Not true, buddy."

Effie pursed her lips at Chaff, then held out both her hands toward Haymitch. "Please dance with me."

Haymitch stood, but he did not move into Effie's arms yet. "Show me the man's steps one more time."

Effie did so. Haymitch watched, then reluctantly said, "Okay, sweetheart, I think I have it down."

Fifteen seconds later, "Capitol Party Party" was playing on the minibox, from the beginning—and playing _loudly_ —while Haymitch and Effie danced.

"You're pathetic, Haymitch," yelled SurfEllen Cassidy of Four, covering her eyes briefly with a hand. "If the Second Quarter Quell had been a _dance competition_ , you'd have been First to Die."

Effie looked at SurfEllen and said, "He is doing _fine_. Haymitch is a _splendid_ dancer."

Chaff said, "Buddy, your escort needs her eyes checked!"

Effie turned back to look at Haymitch. She murmured, "Thank you for dancing with me. I would have been so embarrassed if I'd danced the song here by myself."

Haymitch shrugged. "I almost got killed by an axe, yeah? What's a little public embarrassment?"

Mentor and escort danced a little more, then Effie again spoke quietly: "Haymitch, you have strong shoulders."

Haymitch mumbled a reply. His mind was elsewhere: He had just _really_ noticed how blue Effie's eyes were.

* * *

 **Around noon, local time  
** **District Twelve High School**

At lunchtime, Katniss was sitting with Madge. Usually it was only the two of them eating together, and usually they never talked. But not today.

Katniss wailed, "I'm so nervous, Madge! I don't know how to talk on holo—what if I say something stupid and somehow it hurts Prim? I'll feel _awful!_ "

"Relax," said Madge. "I _know_ you. Katniss Everdeen, intrepid 'finder' of squirrels and boars? You'll do fi—"

Before Madge could say more, Gale, while carrying a lunch tray, walked over to the girls' table. "You doing okay, Catnip?"

Madge said, "She's nervous. Why don't you sit with us, and you can help me calm her down."

Katniss expected Gale to insultingly refuse. Instead, he gave Madge one of his slag-heap smiles and sat down at their table. Katniss got the feeling that she had missed something important.

It was Gale who suggested a possible fix: "Hey Catnip, how about you go with Madge to her house after school? Her dad's a Townie, but he's smart."

Madge nodded enthusiastically. "Holo-reporters talk to Dad several times a month; he'll have good advice. Plus Dad has a telephone—we can call Haymitch Abernathy in the Capitol, and _he'll_ have suggestions what to say."

Katniss made a face. "Haymitch Abernathy _the drunk?_ I'd sooner talk to Effie Trinket."

Madge shook her head. "You forget Haymitch has been dealing with holo-reporters for twenty-four years. He's sure to have learned some things. Plus _he's_ on your side."

Gale said, "After school, I can walk both of you to the mayor's mansion. To protect Katniss, of course."

"Of course," Madge said, smiling hugely.

* * *

Just before lunch-hour ended, Madge dragged Katniss to the girls' restroom, then shoved her inside. "We have five minutes. Unbraid your hair."

"What? _Why?_ "

"Because after school, the rainbows"—Capitol people—"will be looking for the Seam girl with her hair in a 'Primrose braid.' " Madge flicked the end of Katniss's braid.

As Katniss unbraided her hair, she grumbled, "Prim copied her hairstyle from _me_ , but _she_ gets the credit? Not fair."

After Katniss had finished unbraiding her hair and the two girls were about to leave the restroom, Madge looked at Katniss in approval. "You're _beautiful_ when you wear your hair down. If Peeta were here now, he'd be grinning."

Katniss rolled her eyes. "Yeah, grinning because he'd be in the _girls' restroom_ , not grinning because of _me_."

* * *

 **Fifteen minutes after school  
** **In the mayor's office  
** **The District Twelve mayor's mansion**

As Katniss talked to Haymitch Abernathy on the telephone, Madge and Gale sat on chairs nearby, giving silent moral support.

Haymitch told Katniss, "I can't teach you how to be slick with reporters in one telephone call. So if you can't be slick, be honest, sweetheart. Well, up to a point."

Katniss frowned. "What do you mean, 'up to a point'?"

"Prim and Peeta both tell me you're real good at _finding_ squirrels, yeah? The reporters will get bored if you tell them exactly how you find those squirrels." Translation: _Don't mention your hunting_.

Haymitch continued: "And the boy you find squirrels with? Don't mention him to the reporters; they'd just get confused."

"Gotcha," Katniss said. "I shouldn't mention getting anyone's help at finding squirrels."

Overhearing this, both Madge and Gale frowned.

Katniss asked, "Any other advice on talking to reporters? _Anything_ else you can tell me?"

"Yeah. Stay interesting."

Katniss heard the doorbell ring downstairs.

* * *

 **A minute later**

The mansion's visitor turned out to be a young Capitol documentary filmmaker and her film crew. Cressida (the Capitol woman) somehow had sleuthed out that Katniss was here in the district mayor's mansion.

Madge looked at Katniss and Gale. "Before we bring Cressida upstairs, how about this for a plan? If she asks about Gale, we just say he's my boyfriend."

Katniss expected Gale to explode at the very thought of him seriously dating a Townie.

Instead, Gale gave Madge a long, silent look. Then he said, "Sure, I can live with that."

* * *

 **A few minutes later  
** **Still in the mayor's office**

One cameraman was facing Cressida, while the other cameraman was facing Katniss. Katniss was sitting in a fancy chair and trying not to fidget.

Cressida faced her cameraman and said, "This is Cressida Dormer, in District Twelve. I'm speaking with the _mysterious_ Katniss Everdeen, beloved sister of Primrose Everdeen and the deep love of Peeta Mellark."

Katniss looked down, blushing. "So he says, but I don't know why he would say that."

Madge sat down in the chair next to Katniss's, then Madge took Katniss's hand. "Peeta loves you because you're so mature. You take care of your sister and you take care of your mother. Also, you have _beautiful_ shiny hair _and_ the voice of an angel."

Katniss said to Cressida, "You should be talking to Madge, not me. Madge is _Peeta's_ friend; she knows him well. And Madge gave _Prim_ the mockingjay-pin you always see Prim wearing."

Cressida turned to look at Madge, and Katniss relaxed. "So you gave the pin to _Primrose?_ Why not to _Peeta_ , if he's your friend?"

Madge pasted on a camera-ready smile. "The last person to wear the pin was my Aunt Maysilee Donner, who wore it in the 50th Hunger Games. Prim looks a little like Maysilee, plus it seemed like"—Madge shrugged—"the right thing to do."

Cressida asked Madge another question: "So what is Peeta like in District Twelve?"

"Well, you can see that, with his muscles and his curly blond hair and his blue eyes, he's really handsome, right?"

Cressida smiled. "Oh yes, he's very handsome."

"Actually," Madge said, "I was asking _Katniss_. Katniss, isn't Peeta handsome?"

Katniss's face was burning now. "Yes. Peeta is handsome, yes."

Madge faced Cressida. "Peeta smiles a lot. Everyone in the school likes Peeta, because he's a happy person, except for—he's a happy person most of the time. And Katniss, let's not forget his muscles."

Katniss said, "Which he's built up from carrying 50-kilo sacks of flour around."

Too late, Katniss realized what she had just said.

Madge grinned in triumph. "So you've been checking Peeta out, huh?"

"Sometimes. Once in a while," blushing Katniss said, forcing herself to look at her cameraman.

"You know, Katniss," Madge said in an offhand voice, "Peeta doesn't only use his muscles to carry flour around. He also wrestles."

Katniss rolled her eyes. "I _know_ that, Madge. I went to one of his meets last fall, _remember?_ "

"Oh, _did_ you now, Katniss?" Cressida said, grinning.

Katniss realized too late what she had said, and what it sounded like.

Katniss looked at Cressida and said angrily, "I think we've talked enough about Peeta, who _I don't know that well_. How about we talk about _Prim_ , my _sister?_ "

"Okay," Cressida said. "Let's talk about Primrose. Is she as nice as she seemed to be in the interview?"

Katniss smiled a genuine smile. "Prim is the nicest person in District Twelve. She never gets angry, and she doesn't hate anyone."

Cressida asked, "If so, how could Primrose kill Clove of District Two _in cold blood?_ "

Katniss stood up and snapped, " _In cold blood?_ Clove was _one second away_ from killing _Prim_ in cold blood. _Remember?_ How could Prim kill Clove? I guess my sister didn't feel like _dying_ just so the people who had bet on Clove wouldn't lose money!"

Madge pulled on Katniss's arm. "Please sit down, okay? You're creating extra work for your cameraman." Translation: _You're acting out of control_.

Katniss sat down, but then said to Cressida, "If you have any more _silly_ questions, I suggest you skip them."

Both Katniss's cameraman and Cressida were looking at Katniss in shock. Katniss could not guess why.

* * *

When Katniss faltered in her interview, Madge suggested that they all go downstairs to the parlor, where Madge and Katniss would perform "The Miner and the Mine-Girl" for Cressida.

When Madge made this suggestion, Katniss looked painful death at her friend; but Madge seemed not to notice.

Cressida shrugged and said, "Sure."

Katniss sighed. Previously-silent Gale promised Cressida, "Katniss will knock your socks off."

After the three Twelves walked down the stairs, Katniss noticed that Madge and Gale were holding hands. Now it was Madge who wore a slag-heap smile.

Soon Katniss found herself in the parlor, standing and singing next to the piano as Madge played. Together, Katniss and Madge told a tale in song—

For five verses, a beautiful ghost tries to lure a lone miner man into walking into a mine tunnel that the miner knows is unsafe. For four choruses, the miner refuses, explaining that he has his wife, his boy, his girl, and his dog waiting at home.

Katniss was singing the fifth chorus—

 _Turn to the left,  
_ _I'm worth the walk,  
_ _Turn to the left, said she.  
_ _No, I won't go there,  
_ _With its stinky air,  
_ _My cat, it waits for me._

—when Katniss realized that the young Capitol woman was staring at Katniss in amazement. Katniss wondered why.

Then Katniss guessed a possible reason why: Maybe there weren't that many excellent piano players in the Capitol?

Madge started to play the sixth and final verse, but Katniss shook her head. "I'm sorry, I can't sing it."

"Why not?" Cressida said, confused. "If there's an ending, the audience wants to hear it."

"Because," snapped Gale, "in the last verse, that tunnel explodes, and a different miner is trapped there—"

"Young lad John," Katniss said quietly.

"—and the first miner is trying to dig John out, but he knows he'll be too late."

Katniss said, "While the miner was working to clear the tunnel, 'a woman's laugh was heard.' The mine-girl _murdered_ 'young lad John.' " Katniss looked at Cressida with a look that said _Understand now?_

Cressida clearly did not, but she must have picked up that the mood in the mayor's parlor had turned grim. "What am I missing?"

Katniss said, "Five years ago, Prim and I lost our father in a mine explosion."

Gale said, "My father also died that day."

Madge added, "Most of the kids who are in the Community Home now, lost both of their parents in that explosion."

Cressida said, "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Katniss didn't reply, but she fiercely wanted to tell off this young, privileged Capitol woman. Katniss glanced at silent Gale; he clearly was biting his tongue as well.

Madge said drily, "Thank you for your offered condolences, Cressida." Madge's _words_ were polite, but her tone of voice said _You're a clueless snowflake, Capitol_.

Cressida looked thoughtful.


	13. Evil Lightning

In both the Hunger Games novel and the movie, after two days of no deaths in the arena, the Gamemakers start a big fire in order to herd all the tributes together. The long scene is dramatic, and we fear that Katniss will be killed either by fireballs or by Careers.

There is only one problem: If the fire is big, and the force-field dome is completely sealed, the fire will go out by itself when it uses up all the oxygen trapped inside the force-field dome—killing _every_ tribute in the process.

I figure that either Suzanne Collins goofed when she wrote _The Hunger Games_ ; or else the Gamemakers took a risk and opened the top of the force-field dome while the fire was raging, which Katniss does not mention.

But whether or not the Gamemakers open up the top of the force-field dome during part of the 74th Hunger Games, the dome is intact and closed during the entire 75th Hunger Games. Otherwise the District Thirteen hovercraft could fly anytime into the arena to rescue the Victor-tributes, without all the drama.

 **Chapter 13**  
 **Evil Lightning**

 **Five minutes later  
** **Just outside the mayor's mansion  
** **District Twelve**

Cressida, Messalla, Castor, and Pollux had just walked out the front door of the District Twelve mayor's mansion when Cressida turned her portable telephone back on. Less than a half-minute later, her telephone rang.

Cressida glanced at the Caller ID and groaned. "Assistant Head Gamemaker, guys. I'm probably going to speak rudely."

So saying, Cressida accepted the call, told Plutarch "Hold on," then walked away from the three other filmmakers. Only when Cressida was fifteen meters away from the others did she say, "Hello, this is Cressida Dormer."

Plutarch Heavensbee demanded, "Have you talked to her yet? Primrose's sister Katniss?"

"I just finished filming with Katniss, as a matter of fact. I must say—"

"I need her interview. The whole thing. And I need it _now_."

"You'll see it after we've done everyone's interviews, and edited them all."

"Cressida, you do whatever you want with the rest of your day, but I need the raw footage of Everdeen _now_. Crane is on my case." Plutarch lowered his voice. "And I think He Who Shall Not Be Named is on _Crane's_ case."

Cressida paused, then asked quietly, "Plutarch, what is going on?"

Plutarch himself paused, then said, "A breakthrough in mutt technology. That's all I can tell you."

Five seconds later, Cressida breathed, " _Snow's roses_ , that's a rotten trick to pull on those two. They're fine kids."

Plutarch said, "I just follow orders, Cressida. Speaking of which, you _will_ transmit the file of Everdeen's interview as soon as you end this call, _right?_ "

"Yes, even though _I_ don't take orders from _you_ , you understand? But before I hang up, you never asked me what I thought of Katniss Everdeen."

"What's to ask? I figure she's a pretty girl by District Twelve standards, which isn't saying much."

" _No_. You are completely wrong. Plutarch, if you told me right now that President Snow has a secret love-child in District Twelve, _I_ would tell _you_ , 'I've already met her.' Katniss Everdeen has a _presence_ , Plutarch. And if this isn't amazing _enough_ , the girl can _sing_ like a Capitol Chorale soloist."

"Great, Cressida, I'm glad she impressed you," Plutarch said, in his _I'm indulging you_ voice.

"I have nothing more to say," annoyed Cressida said. "Goodbye."

Cressida had not said during the telephone call what had been her _first_ and her _strongest_ impression of Katniss Everdeen: _If this girl is ever Reaped, she will be a Victor for sure_.

Then Cressida's brain went one step further. Cressida pictured Katniss Everdeen, who in the future leads a group of Rebels. As Katniss holds a Rebellion flag aloft, she yells, "PEOPLE OF PANEM, WE FIGHT, WE DARE, WE END OUR HUNGER FOR JUSTICE!" The crowd cheers, as Rebel-piloted hovercraft fly overhead.

Cressida decided she would follow a leader like this, even when the leader in question was nine years younger than Cressida herself.

* * *

 **Fifteen minutes later  
** **The Games Center, the Capitol**

As Plutarch had started to watch Cressida's footage, he had not been impressed with Katniss Everdeen. Like almost all outer-district residents—with Peeta Mellark being the miraculous exception—Katniss was awkward about appearing on camera. Also, her eyes were a boring, colorless gray; her hair was a boring, colorless black; her skin color was unfashionably dark; and she was both short and thin.

But the camera-awkward outer-district girl vanished completely when Cressida—with surprising callousness—asked Katniss about Primrose killing Clove Fuhrman "in cold blood." There was nothing timid about Katniss's reply, and there was _definitely_ nothing timid in Katniss's words a minute later, when Katniss "suggested" Cressida not ask any more "silly" questions. Katniss spoke just as forcefully to Cressida as President Snow would have. Primrose's sister had "presence" indeed.

Plutarch thought, _If this girl is ever Reaped, she will be a Victor for sure_.

Then Plutarch's brain took one more step: _What would happen if Katniss Everdeen became active in the Rebellion?_ Oh, she could bring _so many_ people to the cause, and _so much_ inspire them to fight! Of course, since she _was_ only a teenage girl, she would need someone older and better educated to manage her.

* * *

 **Seconds later  
** **Seneca Crane's office, the Games Center**

Plutarch told Seneca Crane none of his thoughts about Katniss Everdeen. Plutarch reported only, "Katniss said she doesn't know Peeta well, and she calls her sister 'Prim.' "

Plutarch then told Seneca, "Mutt Development says they need one more day, _at least_ , to fine-tune this new mutt."

Crane shook his head. "They're not getting one more day. Tell the team that the new mutt will be sent out as soon as their hovercraft reaches the arena. Tell them, do the best they can with the time they have."

* * *

 **An hour later  
** **Day Two of the 74th Hunger Games, mid-afternoon  
** **The Games Center**

Plutarch reported to Seneca Crane, "The hovercraft with the mutt has landed outside the force-field dome, in direction 082. The hovercraft arrived cloaked; the pilot believes that no tributes are aware of the hovercraft's presence. The mutt-development team declares that the mutt is ready to use."

Crane nodded. "Tell them to stand by."

Crane raised his voice, to address all the Gamemakers in the room. "People, rather than let the Games play out however they will, we are going to bring things to a head."

Someone asked, "Um, will President Snow be okay with this? We're only thirty hours in."

Crane shrugged. "Indirectly, it was his idea."

The same Gamemaker asked, "So what are we going to do to the tributes? Fireball 'em?"

Crane shook his head. "We'll use fire only if I'm desperate. Because for fire as big as we'd need, we'd have to dissolve the roof of the force-field dome so oxygen can get in. Otherwise, all the tributes would suffocate. The problem is, after we make a hole in the top, while oxygen is going _into_ the arena, smoke is coming _out_. Which reveals the location of the 74th Arena to anyone in District Seven who cares to climb a tree."

Plutarch added, "And considering that the location of an arena is Top Secret until that arena's Games are over, everyone who had let that smoke come out would be in Big Trouble."

Crane nodded. "Exactly. Right now my tongue is in my mouth, all of my brain is in my skull, and I want to keep them there. May I continue?"

Silence from the Gamemakers.

"Anyway, I want you to create a donut-shaped _nasty_ storm system that fills the entire domed sky, except for the center of the arena—the pedestals and the Cornucopia. I want blasting rain, and _lots and lots_ of cloud-to-ground lightning. I want any tribute who doesn't run to the Cornucopia soon enough to be _barbecue_ , am I clear?"

Someone else asked, "By _barbecue_ , does this include Five, Eleven-F, and the Twelves? They're crowd favorites, and they are just beyond the clearing."

Crane said, "I want _their_ locations _especially_ targeted. Any Gamemaker who fries one of them will be gifted with a fruit basket."

The Gamemakers all grinned like coyotes, hearing this.

"However, in this 'donut' of storm clouds, I want you to code for a 'rip.' A 'rip' that creates a very narrow and winding path on the ground of no rain and no lightning, and that runs from the donut hole to the arena wall in direction 082."

A third Gamemaker now looked confused. "We're giving tributes a way to escape the storm?"

Crane's grin was evil. "Firstly, the 'rip' will be delayed; it won't be there when the lightning-show first starts. You all will have plenty of time to earn your fruit basket! Secondly, if somehow all of you _disappoint_ me, I want the Twelves to escape the danger they see, only to die by the danger they don't."

A fourth Gamemaker asked, "What's the danger they don't see?"

Seneca Crane was still smiling evilly; now he also stroked his beard. "Two words: Katniss Everdeen."

* * *

 **Ten minutes later  
** **Mid-afternoon, arena time  
** **Just beyond the Cornucopia clearing**

Peeta heard rustling in the tree over his head, then Rue dropped to the ground between Prim and Windmilla.

Rue looked nervous. "The sky overhead is turning to storm clouds. I don't think they're natural."

Windmilla walked to the edge of the clearing and looked up. "The sky looks fine."

Rue said, " _Over the Cornucopia_ , the sky stays blue. Over _everywhere else_ , including _us?_ The clouds are turning dark, and getting blacker by the minute."

Peeta said, "I don't get it. The Gamemakers pull stuff like this only—"

BOOM! _BOOM_. The first boom, behind Peeta and to his left, was caused by thunder. Immediately after, a cannon sounded.

Not even ten seconds later, Peeta heard another thunder/cannon combo. He said, "Six of us le—"

FLASH/ _BOOM!_ _CR-CRACK!_ The tree that the Alliance was standing under, was split by lightning from top to bottom. The four tributes now were blasted by pouring rain.

Peeta yelled, " _Grab all your weapons_ , then get under that tree there." He pointed. "MOVE!" Peeta himself ran with Prim to the new tree.

Rue said, "Trees don't protect you. We have to—"

FLASH/BOOM! Lightning missed Rue by a foot. She ran to join the others.

Prim had scooped up the six half-arrows; now she handed three of them to Peeta. Peeta put two half-arrows, arrowhead-side down, in his right boot and one half-arrow in his left boot. Prim did the reverse.

"This is _bad_ ," Windmilla shouted. "Lightning like this should not be self-sustaining." Windmilla had to shout now, because the sound of thunder now was constant and everywhere inside the arena. What was worse, Peeta would _swear_ that the Alliance's little patch of tree-covered ground was getting the worst of the lightning.

FLASH/BOOM! The Alliance's new tree was itself hit by lightning.

"Watch out for falling tree limbs!" Rue warned, as a limb as big around as Peeta's leg, crashed to the ground.

About this time, Marvel and Marina (each clutching weapons) emerged running from the woods, about fifty meters to the Alliance's right. Both Careers' faces showed terror, as each ran a zigzag course from the edge of the clearing to the Cornucopia. In those few seconds in which Marvel and Marina were in the clearing but were still under storm clouds, each Career suffered several lightning near-misses.

 _But_ , Peeta noticed, each of Marvel and Marina's near-miss lightning-strikes hit _behind_ them, which spurred the two Careers to run toward the Cornucopia even faster.

When the Careers reached the sunlit Cornucopia, Marvel dropped panting to his knees. Marina said something to him, and Marvel, with effort, stood up.

Windmilla yelled, "Steer and Thresh are dead. Sorry, Rue."

Prim hugged Rue, then said, "So it looks like it's just us and"—she chin-pointed at the panting Careers ahead.

Peeta yelled, "Our best chance is to swarm them."

Peeta drew his dripping-wet sword and raised it high.

Peeta yelled, "Ready, set, _now!_ "

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Peeta, Prim, Windmilla, and Rue broke cover and ran straight toward the two surprised Careers.

Peeta saw Marvel bring his spear to his shoulder, as Marina hurriedly gathered her net for throwing.

FLASH/BOOM! _BOOM!_ went the cannon. Windmilla Finch, the remaining tribute from the electricity-generating district, was electrocuted in mid-step.

Peeta zigzagged then, with his sword still held high; lightning hit the spot where he would have run to, had he kept running straight. _Ha-ha, missed me!_ Peeta thought.

Rue was not so lucky: FLASH/BOOM! _BOOM!_

Somehow Peeta and Prim ran as far as the pedestals without suffering electrical death. Now the Twelve tributes' only problem was two Careers straight ahead, each Career intending murder.

Correction: The Twelves had _two_ problems, when Prim slipped on wet grass and fell down hard. Peeta saw Marvel laugh in delight and walk forward.

"You can have Loverboy," Marvel said to Marina.

* * *

Prim stared at advancing Marvel in horror. She was going to die now, exactly like in her dream!

Marvel gave Peeta only a brief, dismissive look—"Have you ever _held_ a sword before, Twelve Boy?"—before turning his attention back to Prim.

Prim was trying unsuccessfully to plant her feet and stand up, but the wet grass was _slippery!_

Meanwhile, Marvel kept walking closer to Prim. "Yesterday, both of you little twelve-year-olds somehow managed to outlive the Bloodbath—what luck! But that was yesterday. _Today_ , your luck ends."

Peeta said, "You kill her and you die."

Marvel laughed, while not bothering to look at Peeta. "You're funny, cannonbait."

Marvel jerked the spear back, about to throw it, as his eyes bored into Prim's.

 _Now I die_ , Prim thought.

Running feet sounded then, from the direction of the high grass. "PRIM! PEETA! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Prim blurted out, " _Katniss?_ "

* * *

 **An instant later**

Peeta had never spoken to Katniss Everdeen, except by the order of a teacher. But sometimes Peeta had "accidentally" been in the back of the bakery when Katniss and Peeta's father had traded squirrels for bread; so Peeta recognized Katniss's voice.

And the teen girl who ran out of the high grass, wearing a bright-orange jumpsuit, surely _looked_ like Katniss, besides _sounding_ like her.

 _But what is Katniss doing here in the arena?_ Peeta wondered.

* * *

 **In the Games Center**

Seneca Crane smiled in anticipation.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **District Twelve High School**

Mr. Berg's voice sounded over the public-address system. "Katniss Everdeen, if you're here, please come to the principal's office _now_."

Katniss's first reaction was to roll her eyes. _"If you're here"? Where else would I be, skipping school at the Slag Heap?_

Then Katniss choked, when she realized there could be only one reason why the principal would summon her to the office while her sister was in the arena: _Prim is dead_.

Just before Katniss opened the classroom door, a girl said, "If you need us, we're here for you." Katniss nodded, unable to speak.

Katniss's class was only three classrooms away from the school office, in the same hallway. As soon as Katniss stepped into that hallway, her worry doubled when she saw Mr. Berg standing in the hallway, instead of sitting behind his desk in his office. In the hallway, Mr. Berg's back was to Katniss, he was shifting from foot to foot, and he was craning his neck.

Katniss's walk was silent, so the principal did not react as Katniss approached, even when she stopped two meters behind him. "Is Prim dead?" Katniss forced herself to ask.

Katniss's worry turned to confusion when Mr. Berg spun around, then stared at Katniss as if she were a ghost.


	14. Three Deaths

**Chapter 14**  
 **Three Deaths**

 **By the Cornucopia**

Peeta stared at newly-arrived Katniss, as Marvel and Marina turned toward her. Katniss stood at the edge of the clearing with the high grass at her back; she was panting.

Braided-hair Katniss, like almost every girl from the Seam, had slightly-wild black eyebrows. Katniss was wearing the orange jumpsuit that Peeta knew, from holodramas, that Peacekeepers' prisoners wore. The right leg of Katniss's jumpsuit had been hacked off, several centimeters above the top of her right boot. Sticking up from Katniss's right boot was the hilt of a Peacekeeper combat knife, which was a nastier weapon than either Marina's arena-issue knife or Prim's knife.

Katniss had just used her right hand to push aside tall grass. Katniss's left arm was down at her side; Katniss's left hand was hiding something behind her thighs.

Katniss glared at Marvel and yelled, "Did I just hear you threaten _Prïm?_ " Katniss's left arm snapped up, and now she was pointing a Peacekeeper pistol at Marvel.

Peeta was still shocked to see Katniss here at all. Now Peeta was shocked to see someone in a Hunger Games arena with a firearm; guns had never appeared in any previous Hunger Games. But amid these shocks, Peeta had a thought: _Something is odd here. Katniss said Prim's name as Prïm, like a Capitol would, instead of Priyim, like Twelves do_.

Marina asked, "Primrose, is that your sister?"

Prim replied as she stood up, "She _looks_ like Katniss—but she _can't_ be!"

Marvel, after he had turned around to look over his shoulder at Katniss, had not moved further. Peeta could not guess whether he still intended to spear Prim or not. But now Marvel turned to face Katniss squarely.

He said, "Are you trying to scare me, Katniss Everdeen? I'm sure you've never fired a gun before. You'll probably miss, but I _never_ miss."

Marina yelled, "You idiot, she's _not a tribute!_ If you kill _her_ , it's murder!"

"She's an enemy," Marvel said. He had let his spear-hand drop a little, to a more relaxed position. Now his hand came up, then back, ready to throw his spear at Katniss.

Marvel's back was now turned on Peeta (and on Peeta's sword). This gave Peeta an attack advantage—

—which Peeta threw away by stomping across the grass as he ran, and by yelling, "NOT KATNISS!"

Marvel did something with the spear and both his hands, then spun to face Peeta. Still-running Peeta was unhappy to discover that Marvel now was holding the spear at waist height, his right hand was holding the back of the spear, his left hand was holding the middle of the spear, and the unpleasant end of the spear was pointed at Peeta.

Not to worry—Peeta's left forearm shoved Marvel's spear sideways away. "Nice guy" Peeta smiled a predator's smile at surprised Marvel. At the same time, Peeta was holding his sword in his right hand. As Peeta stopped running, he brought the top of his sword blade way up, as if he were going to attack Marvel's head.

"Kick that Career's ass!" Katniss yelled.

Meanwhile Marvel, with shocking speed, brought the spear up and around to the left in front of his head. Now using the spear as a quarterstaff, Marvel blocked the edge of Peeta's sword—

— _just as Peeta had intended_. Peeta began the biggest gamble of his young life. As soon as Peeta felt his sword hit Marvel's spear, Peeta flicked his right hand to the right, opened his fingers—

—and let his sword fall to the ground (hopefully not hitting his foot!)

"Oh, Peeta," Marina said sadly.

Marvel's lips were just beginning to curl up into a sneer when Peeta's empty left hand wrapped around the back of Marvel's neck. Meanwhile, Peeta's now-empty right hand zoomed under Marvel's sideways spear; Peeta's right palm hit Marvel's forehead.

Peeta's left arm pulled Marvel's neck closer; Peeta's right arm pushed Marvel's forehead away.

 _Crack_. Marvel dropped bonelessly.

" _Yes!_ " Katniss yelled.

But no cannon sounded.

Marvel lay face-up on the grass now, as three other tributes (and Katniss) came closer. Marvel's mouth opened and shut, but no sound came out; his eyes were wide and his face looked panicked.

Prim said, "Peeta, you severed his spine. He can't breathe!"

Peeta retrieved his sword, then held the sword, point down, over Marvel's motionless chest. "I'm truly sorry, guy. I didn't intend for you to suffer." Peeta shoved the sword down, piercing Marvel's heart.

 _BOOM_ went the cannon.

"Thank you, _Payta_ ," Katniss said, "for fighting for me."

Peeta blinked. _Katniss just said my name the way Capitols say it_.

* * *

 **One second later**

Katniss said, "Prim? Peeta? Fun's over. We need to leave _now_."

Prim looked confused. "Leave? Where are we going?"

Katniss gestured for the three Twelves to huddle together.

Katniss murmured, "There's a door in the arena wall. Just outside the door is a truck. I can lead us to that door, and none of us will get killed."

"What about the lightning?" Peeta asked. The artificial lightning storm was not as bad as it had been ten minutes ago; still, it was death to go too far away from the Cornucopia.

Katniss replied, "The lightning? I threw some water on a Gamemaker machine. There's a rip now, in the sky, where lightning doesn't hit the ground. _We can get away!_ "

Prim asked, "But what about—?"

" _Prïm!_ Don't you get it? I killed a Gamemaker and a Peacekeeper, and now I'm on camera! Peacekeepers are _coming_ for me. I can save all three of us, but only if we leave here! _Now_ , before Marvel's hovercraft shows up and spots me!"

Prim asked, "Wow, is this really a Peacekeeper gun? Can I see it?"

Katniss huffed. "Will it make you head _ovah_ that way to the door?"

Prim grinned. "After I look at the gun." But when Katniss's left hand gave Prim the pistol, Peeta noticed, Prim's smile faded.

Prim stepped back and straightened up, ending the huddle. "I've never shot a real gun before." She aimed the pistol down at the grass; a moment later, she said, "It won't shoot."

Peeta said, "Use your thumb to release the safety."

Marina started to ask, "How do you know about—?"

 _BANG_.

Peeta grinned. "Holodramas."

Prim was grinning as she handed the smoking pistol to Peeta. "That was _fun!_ I put the safety back on."

Katniss held her hand out. "Give me the gun back, and _let's go!_ "

Peeta looked at Prim, who gave a tiny shake of her head.

Then Prim turned to face Katniss. "Quack."

" _What?_ " Katniss said. "What does _that_ mean?"

Prim said, "Peeta, we have a problem."

"We do," Peeta agreed.

 _BANG_.

" _What the fuck?_ " Marina exclaimed.

Now Mutt-Katniss was down on the ground, bleeding and moaning, but she was not dead. Peeta sighed. "When I _need_ to be a deadly killer, I'm not."

Meanwhile, Prim was explaining to Marina, "This isn't Katniss. She's a monster. A mutt from the Capitol. A liar. We can't trust her."

Then Prim yanked a half-arrow out of her boot, dropped to her knees, and stabbed Mutt-Katniss in the eye with the half-arrow.

Though no cannon sounded, Mutt-Katniss gasped, then she lay still.

"My _real_ sister would never suggest something so _cowardly_ as running out on the Hunger Games," Prim said to the mutt-corpse.

Then Peeta looked at Prim. "Was killing Mutt-Katniss as hard for you as it was for me?"

Prim nodded. She looked about to cry.

Peeta turned and threw the pistol, as hard as he could, toward the lake. _Splash_. He explained to puzzled-looking Marina, "Using a gun against a _tribute_ is cheating."

Prim stood up and drew her knife. She said to Marina, "Now we battle you to the death, huh?"

Marina nodded. "No matter what happens, I respect you guys."

Peeta said, "You know that being nice _out there_ doesn't change anything _in here_ , right?"

Marina said, "Understood. Let's dance."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **In the principal's office  
** **District Twelve High School**

School had ended since the time that Katniss had been summoned to the principal's office. But while the rest of the school building was empty now, the principal's office had three people in it, all watching the Hunger Games on holo: Mr. Berg; Katniss; and Mrs. Binder, the assistant principal.

Now Katniss said, "This is all my fault. Prim is about to die, and it's my fault."

Mr. Berg and Mrs. Binder both stared at Katniss. Mr. Berg said, "How is this your fault? How could _you_ save Prim from this?"

Katniss replied, "I shouldn't have been sick. I should have been at the Reaping that day, so I could have volunteered for Prim. Then it would be _me_ facing the Career girl now, instead of Prim."

Mr. Berg stared at Katniss. "You really would have volunteered yourself into the Hunger Games for your sister?"

"Of course."

Katniss could not understand why Mr. Berg was acting as if Katniss had said something unusual.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Near the Cornucopia**

Prim saw Marina point the dagger in her left hand toward Peeta. Marina's right hand gathered her weighted net, ready to throw it.

Prim saw Peeta point his sword toward Marina.

Prim pointed her own knife at Marina.

The three tributes stepped closer to each other, as Prim saw Marina eyeing her weapon. "That's a nice knife," Marina said. The words perhaps could mean _Do you have a clue how to use it?_

Prim shrugged. "It _should_ be a nice knife; it belonged to Clove."

Marina's eyes went wide. "It was _you_ who—?"

Peeta laughed. "You're looking at the most badass twelve-year-old in Panem."

* * *

 **One second later**

Peeta saw Marina smile and say to Prim, "Congratulations. I've never heard of someone so young be called 'most badass in Panem.' "

But even as Marina was looking at Prim and speaking, her right arm flew out toward a spot over Peeta's head, and her net spread out to drape itself over Peeta.

Peeta had figured on Marina pulling a stunt like this, while Prim was alive. Marina's best chance of killing him was to attack him when he was not expecting an attack—but once Prim was dead, Peeta would _never be_ not expecting an attack.

But right after Peeta had figured out that Marina's attack must come soon, he had figured out a counterattack.

Now, as soon as Peeta saw the weighted net move toward him, he rotated his right wrist; his sword, instead of pointing toward Marina, now pointed down. Only a fool let his weapon be entangled in the net, and only a fool tried to hack through the net with a sword.

Peeta's left hand, meanwhile, was shooting forward, toward the two ropes that ran from the edge of the net to Marina's right wrist. Peeta's left arm was fast enough that the front edge of the net actually draped itself over his left arm, instead of capturing both arms. As soon as Peeta's fingers grabbed the two ropes, he did three things at once—

Peeta's right elbow, and right hand with sword, moved up above Peeta's head. Peeta threw his butt backward, so that he landed sitting on the ground, with the net tightening around his upper body. His left hand, meanwhile, _yanked_ the two ropes that ran to Marina's right hand. _Surprise, Marina!_

Marina had intended to pull Peeta off his feet, toward her; instead, Peeta pulled _her_ off her feet, toward _him_.

As soon as Marina hit the ground on her stomach, Peeta yelled, " _Prim, get her!_ "

Through the lattice of the net, Peeta saw Prim leap onto Marina and straddle Marina's waist. Prim's left foot stomped down on Marina's left arm, so that Marina could not use her knife.

Prim's left hand went up. Prim's left hand went down. The cannon fired.

* * *

 **One second later**

"I salute you, Marina," Prim said sadly.

Peeta made no attempt to pull the net off of himself. Instead, he waited for Prim to attack and to kill him.

When ten seconds had passed and Peeta was still unstabbed, he belatedly cleared himself of Marina's net. By now, Prim was standing by Marina's corpse. Her bloody-bladed knife was held down by her thighs, the knife's blade pointed down.

Prim was looking at Peeta with a horrified expression. She made no move to attack.

Peeta realized, _If_ _Prim_ _won't kill_ _me_ _, the Gamemakers expect_ _me_ _to kill_ _her_.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Office of the principal  
** **District Twelve High School**

"Oh no," Katniss said. "This is _awful_."

Three people now watched live as Hologram-Peeta and Hologram-Prim stared at each other in horror.

After Prim and Peeta had killed the Katniss-impostor (real Katniss had cheered), Katniss had been frightened as she had watched the three-way battle that followed. Katniss had been scared during every second that she was going to see Marina from Four kill Prim.

Katniss had been surprised to discover that she had also been worried that Marina would kill Peeta. Katniss admired Peeta now, and she would mourn his death.

But then the three-way battle had ended. The good news had been that neither Prim nor Peeta had died; instead, Marina had died.

But now one more fight awaited; and Katniss knew that Prim could not win _this_ fight, even if she outlived Peeta.

* * *

Coming next: **The Sound of Trumpets**


	15. The Sound of Trumpets

In _Mockingjay_ , Katniss goes to see Coin, bargaining not only for Peeta's rescue, but his life. Coin shuts Katniss down, saying, "Individuals don't make demands in Thirteen."

Katniss gets angry and says, "The victors will be granted immunity, and you will announce that in front of the entire population of Thirteen. You will hold yourself and your government responsible, or you will find another Mockingjay."

Coin caves completely, because Coin craves to become president of Panem, something she cannot even hope for unless Katniss becomes the Mockingjay; but Coin knows Katniss herself is reluctant about taking the Mockingjay role.

How does Katniss know she can bargain so brazenly? Because Prim pointed out that she could. ("I don't think you know how important you are to them. If you want something, you just have to ask. You could demand almost anything, they'd have to agree to it.")

This fits with a blazing realization that I had once, when I was in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, haggling over a tourist trinket: The first secret to a successful negotiation is to be willing to walk away from the negotiation. This way, when you say, "This is my final offer," you truly don't care what the other person says next; as far as you're concerned, you win either way. On the other hand, if you think "I _must_ make this deal," the _best_ you can hope for is to break even.

In psychology, this relates to the Principle of Least Interest: "The person in a relationship who has the least interest in continuing the relationship, dictates the terms of the relationship." Katniss out-negotiates Coin in a high-stakes negotiation because Coin is desperate for Katniss to become the Mockingjay, while Katniss is indifferent.

Which makes me wonder: What kind of mischief could Prim make, if Prim herself were involved in a high-stakes negotiation and Prim herself were Least Interested?

 **Chapter 15**  
 **The Sound of Trumpets**

 **In Mentor Central**

"Oh no," Effie said. "This is _awful_." The last two tributes in the Hunger Games were from District Twelve—what could be worse?

Effie expected Haymitch to say _Yeah, it's awful_ or something similar. Instead, Haymitch was suddenly working his mentor-screen.

The telephone rang, which did not surprise Effie. Capitols wanting to be last-minute sponsors of a winning tribute, this was a common occurrence (so Effie had heard).

Haymitch shook his head _hard_ as Effie was reaching for the telephone. " _Effie_. Don't answer it. Not now, not later."

Effie blinked. Not only because Haymitch's order was so unexpected, but because he had addressed her as _Effie_. Haymitch had not addressed her by name since the minute he had met her. Usually he addressed her as _Sweetheart_ ; when he was annoyed with her, she was _Princess_. Similarly, Haymitch usually addressed Twelve tributes as _Boy_ or _Sweetheart_ —

When Haymitch addressed a tribute by his or her name, Effie had noticed, Haymitch was being deadly serious.

"What's going on?" Effie now asked.

Haymitch asked her a strange question: "Two or three years ago, a sponsor changed his mind, told you he wanted his sponsor-money returned, yeah? Did you have any problem returning his money?"

"You mean, while I was muttering under my breath that he was a rude, dishonorable cheapskate? No, I sent _X_ PDs to his bank account, no problem. Every sponsor-donation has the originating bank account on the form, since sponsor-gifts are tax-deductible."

"For Capitols, yeah, not for district people," Haymitch said. "Next question: You've kept records of every money-gift we've received this year, yeah?"

Effie did not answer with words; she just looked at Haymitch with pursed lips.

Haymitch looked serious now: "Effie, give _all_ the money back. Every PD, to every sponsor."

" _What?_ "

" _Hurry_ , sweetheart, we don't have much time."

"Why are we doing this?"

"It turns out, I have not spent one PD on mentor gifts for either Prim or Peeta. They had a lake and iodine droplets; I didn't need to send them water. They raided the Cornucopia, so I didn't need to spend money on food or weapons. Neither Prim nor Peeta has taken so much as a scratch, so I've sent out no medicine. _Zero_ money spent, so zero money needed; that's Reason One."

"What's Reason Two?"

"Both these kids are attractive. Whoever wins could become the next Finnick or Cashmere. I don't want any Twelve kid to _be_ the next Finnick or Cashmere."

Both of whom were unwilling prostitutes, Effie knew. Aloud, she said, "I'm on it right now." Her fingers began flying over her keyboard.

* * *

 **Seconds after Marina's death  
** **By the Cornucopia**

Peeta finished pulling Marina's weighted net off of his upper body, as he eyed Prim. Prim still was making no move to attack him.

Peeta stood up, his sword held loosely in hand. Right then, all the lightning and thunder _stopped_.

"Why'd they do that?" Prim asked.

Peeta shrugged. "The Gamemakers expect you to run away now, and expect me to chase you."

Prim made a small smile. "Or maybe they expect _you_ to run away, and _me_ to do the chasing."

"I don't intend to run away. You want to chase me, take two steps and you've caught me."

Prim looked off into the distance then. In a thoughtful voice, she asked, "Oh, what would Katniss do now? What would Katniss do?"

Then Prim said, "I know _one_ thing Katniss would do."

Prim turned to face Marina's dead body; Prim stood straight and saluted. "Goodbye Marina. You were the best kind of tribute, and you were a friend here. I miss you."

Peeta matched the salute, saying, "Marina, you were a friend to both of us."

Peeta and Prim broke the salute and stepped back, because now a hovercraft was above Marina, its claw descending.

Prim said, "Peeta, we have a problem."

"We do," Peeta agreed.

"You're a friend now," Prim said. She wrapped her arms around him. While still hugging him, Prim said, "I won't kill a friend."

Peeta's hug squeezed Prim, then he said, "And no way will I kill Katniss's sister, who _also_ is my friend."

Peeta heard the flapping of many birds' wings then.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Peeta looked up and saw many brown jabberjays and many black crows flying. All of the birds landed on the gold Cornucopia; and, all at the same time, every bird turned to face Peeta and Prim (who still were hugging).

The voice of Claudius Templesmith sounded: "Attention, tributes. You have three hundred seconds to do battle to the death. After this time, the birds will attack both of you till one of you dies. Good luck."

The clock above the Cornucopia, whose face had been dark since the Gong, now showed numbers again: _99_ ... _98_ ... _97_ ...

As Prim broke the hug, she said, "Now I know what Katniss would do. Will you take a walk with me?"

Prim slid the blade of her knife inside her belt. Peeta asked, "Should I bring my sword?"

Prim smiled. "The Gamemakers will be disappointed if you don't."

Prim turned toward the woods, and began to stride across the clearing as quickly as a twelve-year-old girl could move. After several seconds, Prim said to Peeta alongside her, "Windmilla told me something interesting before she died."

"What did she say?"

"I'll tell you a little later, not now. 'Predictable is boring,' Rory Hawthorne says."

The Cornucopia clock said _57_ when Prim and Peeta reached the edge of the Cornucopia clearing, near where the Cornucopia Raider Alliance had made camp. Prim walked a little farther, into the woods, until she stood where the camp had been.

The campsite was a mess. The tree under which they had camped, the tree in whose limbs Rue had acted as lookout, was now split into two half-trees in a _V_ shape. Tree limbs, tree branches, and leaves lay on the ground around that tree. Cans of food, water bottles, and sleeping bags all were covered in debris or were covered in mud.

Prim picked up a pair of darkness-vision glasses, used her pants-leg to clean them off, put them on, and looked around. "These seem to be working."

Prim took off the darkness-vision glasses, and put them in the inner pocket of her jacket. "But I won't know they work _for sure_ till nightfall."

Peeta stared at her. "You think you'll be _alive_ at nightfall?"

Prim gave him a mysterious smile. "We'll see, won't we?"

Prim led Peeta away from the campsite, back to the edge of the clearing. Peeta saw that the countdown clock had rolled over; now it said _82_.

"Three minutes left," Peeta said, after some figuring.

"Plenty of time," Prim said, as she turned to the right and began walking.

Peeta looked over at the Cornucopia. Its top still was covered with many black and brown birds; Peeta doubted that any birds had flown away since they had landed.

Half a minute later, Peeta and Prim walked past a place just off the clearing where no trees grew; instead, the ground was covered with two rows of three fruit-bearing shrubs. The shrub in the middle of the back row had two holly bushes growing nearby. Prim glanced at the shrubs, but kept walking.

Prim remarked, "I never expected to outlive the Bloodbath. Then when Clove suddenly appeared in front of me, I thought, 'This is it. Dead in three seconds.' I'm amazed I'm still alive; I feel like I _shouldn't_ be."

Peeta replied, "I know the feeling. When I was fighting Marvel and I tossed away _my only weapon_ , I thought, 'I'm either a genius or the biggest fool ever in the Hunger Games.' But since my mother tells me every day I'm no genius, I have to figure that I'm alive now because some angel made a clerical error."

Prim took a deep breath. "Oh Peeta, it smells so _nice_ here. In District Twelve, we're surrounded by a forest, but all of it is beyond the electric fence. Sometimes I can _smell_ the forest, but I'm never allowed to _walk_ in it. Here I can go where I want."

Prim stepped over the imaginary boundary between the clearing and the forest, walked up to a tree, slapped its bark—

"Look, I'm in a forest now."

—then Prim walked back over to Peeta in the clearing.

Peeta said, "We have 125 seconds before the birds attack."

Prim nodded. "Stuff is getting real." She looked over in the direction of the Cornucopia. "The birds are still here, but the body of Mutt-Katniss is gone."

Prim looked up at the sky and yelled, " _Gamemakers, making a mutt that looked like my sister was a rotten trick you pulled. Shame, shame!_ "

"I agree," Peeta said. "If _I'm_ alive at nightfall, I'm going to have nightmares about shooting Katniss. Even when I _knew_ she wasn't _our_ Katniss."

" _Tell_ me about it," Prim said. " _I'm_ the person who actually killed her."

Peeta declared, "Two rollovers done. We now have 97 seconds till bird-attack."

Prim said, "Let's walk back toward camp."

When the clock said _83_ , Prim stopped in front of the six shrubs. She said to Peeta, "Stay here, please?"

Prim circled halfway around the shrubs, before coming up to the shrub in the middle of the back row—" _Ow!_ Holly bushes _hurt_."

Prim picked several dark-blue berries, ate them with a grin, picked several more, then tossed them to Peeta. "Sun-ripened blueberries—try them, they're delicious!"

As Peeta ate the blueberries he caught, Prim stepped toward him—which put her standing by a different shrub. This shrub also had dark-blue berries, which Prim picked but did not eat.

When Prim stepped back over to Peeta in the clearing, while holding many berries in her cupped right hand, the countdown clock said _47_.

Prim looked at Peeta very somberly and said, "Either kill me now, or hold out your hand."

Peeta, not understanding what was happening, held out his hand. Prim poured berries into it.

When Peeta started to lift the berries to his mouth, Prim said, "Not yet. _These_ berries are nightlock. Windmilla said this is where Cato picked them, just before he died."

As Peeta stared at Prim in shock, Prim looked up at the sky and yelled, " _Seneca Crane, as soon as your birds—which are fifty meters away, please note—take off, Peeta and I will chomp on the nightlock. By the time the birds fly here, we'll both be dead, and you'll have no Victors_."

Prim paused.

She yelled, " _Your other choice? Declare us_ _both_ _Victors. We've earned it_."

 _Eight_...

 _Seven_...

"I love you, Katniss," Prim said.

"Katniss, I love you," Peeta said.

 _Three_...

 _Two_...

 _One_...

As the Cornucopia clock-face went dark, the birds all rose into the air.

Peeta jammed the nightlock berries into his mouth. He saw Prim do the same.

" _Stop! STOP!_ " a man's voice yelled. It was not Claudius Templesmith's voice. "Um, hold on..."

Trumpets sounded.

The man's voice declared, " _Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Peeta Mellark and Primrose Everdeen, Co-Victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games!_ "

* * *

 **One second later**

The birds all changed direction in midair, all flying off to the left instead of continuing their course toward Peeta and Prim.

Prim spit out her nightlock berries at the same time that Peeta spit out his own.

Literally out of the blue, a hovercraft appeared overhead. Instead of a corpse-collection claw, this hovercraft lowered an aluminum ladder.

Peeta thought, _We won. I won, Prim won, we both won. We are Victors now!_

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **In Mentor Central**

Before this year's Hunger Games, Haymitch and Effie had touched exactly three times—

They had shaken hands when Effie had introduced herself to Haymitch, eleven years ago.

Effie had slapped Haymitch's face last year, when he had insulted her mother.

Minutes before this year's Reaping, Haymitch had drunkenly hugged Effie on the Reaping stage.

But now, mere seconds after Seneca Crane's surprise announcement, Haymitch and Effie together stood up, then they lunged toward each other and kissed as if they had invented the practice.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **In the principal's office  
** **District Twelve High School**

Katniss Everdeen, who had not cried since her father's death, now was crying (besides jumping up and down). Katniss hugged Mr. Berg, she hugged Mrs. Binder, then she yanked her book bag onto her back and ran out of the high school toward the Square—

—from where loud cheering could be heard.

* * *

 **By the nightlock shrubs**

When the Victor-hovercraft aluminum ladder was in front of both Peeta and Prim, he bowed to her and said, "As usual, ladies first."

While Prim rose into the hovercraft, Peeta was singing and dancing—

 _Dance to a clappin' beat (clap),  
_ _Ev'ryone move your feet (clap),  
_ _Dance with a person sweet (clap),  
_ _Capitol party, party, oh! Let's have a party, party, yeah! Toniiight!_

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

Gale looked at Madge. "I guess Katniss has a new boyfriend now—at least, if _Victor_ -Peeta has anything to say about it."

Madge placed a hand on Gale's arm and said, "And _you_ have a new _girlfriend_ now ... if you want."

Gale looked at Madge. Madge looked at Gale.

Gale leaned down and kissed Madge. The kiss went on for a while.

"Um, Gale? Madge?" Katniss's voice said.

Gale and Madge broke the kiss. They each turned to look at Katniss.

Katniss's face was a mixture of emotions. "Are you two ... together?"

"Maybe," Gale said.

"Probably," Madge said.

Katniss stared at Gale and Madge, and said, "I'm..." Katniss never finished the sentence.

Katniss then walked away and began talking to Delly Cartwright.


	16. After the Trumpets

**Chapter 16**  
 **After the Trumpets**

 **Elsewhere in the Square, District Twelve**

Katniss walked over to Delly because Katniss _really_ could not handle Gale and Madge right then, and because Katniss knew that bubbly Delly would talk to Katniss even though the two girls did not know each other well.

And indeed Delly talked to Katniss—after _shocking_ Katniss with a strong hug. Delly squealed, "You are _so lucky!_ "

Katniss said, "Yes, Prim is coming home! I still can't believe it."

Delly smiled at Katniss. "I can't believe it either, about Prim, but that's not what I meant. _Peeta_ is coming home! He's a _Victor_ now, and he _likes_ you, and you're so _pretty_ , and everyone _admires_ you—oh, you are _so lucky!_ "

"Wait, you think I'm pretty?"

Delly beamed. "Well, _Peeta_ does—isn't this all that matters?"

Katniss scowled.

Still-smiling Delly said, "Both Rooba"—the district butcher—"and my mom say that _your_ mom was the most beautiful woman in Twelve twenty years ago, and _I_ say you look like your mom."

"Are you joking?"

Delly lowered her voice. "Peeta told me once that his dad wanted to marry your mom. Instead, she married _your_ dad, then Mr. Mellark married ... You-Know-Who."

Katniss tried to imagine the baker, who bought her squirrels, pining for Katniss's mother, who still sometimes sat in a chair and stared at the wall. Katniss could not believe it.

So Katniss shifted her thinking to something else: "What did you mean, everybody admires me?"

Delly looked around for eavesdroppers, then lowered her voice. "Nobody talks about it, because then Cray would have to do something, but we know how you and Gale take care of your families. We all admire you for it. Is it true, you're a better shot than Gale is?"

Blushing Katniss said, "Yes, but he's better at snares."

Delly said, "I bet hunting is hard to do. _I_ couldn't do it. Hunting is harder, I bet, than going to Cray's house for ... you-know. But you not only chose the hard choice, now you're _good_ at it."

Katniss was not merely blushing now, her face was glowing red. "Delly, _please_ , enough about me. Tell me about Peeta. What's something amazing about Peeta that nobody knows?"

Delly laid a hand on Katniss's arm. "Peeta loves to draw; he's great at it; and a lot of the time, he draws _you_."

* * *

 **One minute later**

Delly shook her head. "Katniss, that isn't the right way to think. Dating Peeta only because 'I owe him, big-time' won't work."

"Why not?" Katniss demanded. Delly was confusing her.

Delly replied, "Because Peeta will think you don't like him, that you are going out with him only because of 'owing.' "

"But I _do_ owe him, Delly! For bringing Prim home—this is as big-time for owing as you can get!" Quietly Katniss added, "Also, I owe him for something else."

Delly's eyes bored into Katniss's. "I'll tell you the reasons why you should date Peeta. Because he has a good heart. Because at least once in your life before you die, you should see Peeta's beautiful blue eyes looking at _you_ , and you should see Peeta smiling his special smile for _you_. And because _you_ , Katniss Everdeen, deserve to be the girl to give Peeta his first kiss."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **Cray's office  
** **District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks**

The telephone rang on Cray's desk.

Cray picked up the receiver. "Yeah, it's Cray."

The voice at the other end said, "Captain Cray, the last time we spoke, I 'suggested' that you make a public apology to Miss Katniss Everdeen. Have you done so?"

Cray thought, _I am so fucked_. Aloud, he said, "No, Mister President, I haven't apologized to her. I've been busy, Everdeen's been busy, and what you said was, after all, a suggestion."

Snow said, "Miss Everdeen is a sixteen-year-old girl in school. How busy can she be?"

"Um..."

"But this is not important, that you have just _lied_ to me with a poor excuse. What _is_ important is that eight days ago, you publicly slandered and publicly threatened Mrs. Aloe Everdeen and Miss Katniss Everdeen; since then, you have done nothing to remedy your errors. Every day you let this situation fester, due either to your laziness or your cowardice, is a day during which Twelves become further convinced that Miss Primrose Everdeen was punitively Reaped. Now I have a problem in District Twelve, Captain Cray— _you_ caused it, and _you_ are worsening it."

"Sir, I will accept whatever punishment you impose," Cray choked out. He knew that he probably had just endorsed his own death sentence.

"I have not decided this yet. In the meantime, I am telephoning you to give you a chance to get into my good graces."

 _Maybe I can save my ass?_ "How can I help you, Mister President?"

"Tell me _everything_ you know about Miss Katniss Everdeen, _especially_ the facts that you have never written into any report. I am curious _exactly_ how Miss Everdeen 'finds squirrels.' "

"Yes, Mister President. Let me start with, I love the taste of turkey meat. Yes, I could buy turkeys from District Ten, but _those_ turkeys are frozen solid _and_ they're expensive..."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **The Presidential Mansion, the Capitol**

Minerva Snow was as shocked as anyone in the Capitol at the surprise ending of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games; but Minerva was also overjoyed. Now she had a question to ask her grandfather.

Peacekeepers and bodyguards who would have tackled (at the least) anyone else, or shot him (more likely), let Minerva wander the huge Mansion as she pleased. She headed first to her grandfather's office, but before she even knocked on the door, the lack of bodyguards outside the door clued Minerva that her grandfather was elsewhere.

"Where is he, the library or the greenhouse?" she asked a Peacekeeper.

The Peacekeeper talked into his radio, and seconds later was told that President Snow was in "Location Seventeen"—which, the Peacekeeper translated for Minerva, meant the library.

Minerva thanked the Peacekeeper—she thought Grandpa's politeness was his best virtue, and so she tried her best to copy his politeness—and headed toward the library.

As Minerva walked, she puzzled over the fact that Grandpa was in the library. Her grandfather retreated to the library whenever he had a difficult decision to make. Was the riot in District Eight not under control yet? Had rioting spread to another district?

But whatever her grandfather had to decide about, Minerva was sure it had _nothing_ to do with what was making Minerva jump-up-and-down excited: that for the first time ever, the Hunger Games had ended with _two Victors!_ And from a non-Career district, even better!

When Minerva opened the door to the library, two bodyguards on the other side of the door whirled to face her—as they always did. When they saw that the new arrival was Minerva, instead of some crazed district assassin, only then did they take their hands off their guns—as they always did. The bodyguards nodded to Minerva, and did not try to stop her as she walked past them.

Grandpa was sitting in his favorite wingback chair, talking on the telephone. His eyes were on Minerva, but he continued his telephone conversation instead of speaking a greeting to his granddaughter.

Minerva smiled at Grandpa, gave him a little wave, and walked to the far corner of the library in order to give him privacy during his telephone call. Minerva sat down in a chair and waited.

A half-minute later, Minerva was thoroughly confused. Why was Grandpa asking Peacekeeper Captain Cray in District Twelve about _Katniss_ Everdeen, when it was _Primrose_ Everdeen who had just won the Hunger Games?

After Grandpa hung up the telephone, he sat in silence for a while, then said, "Good afternoon, Minerva. Do you have a problem?"

Minerva stood up and walked toward Grandpa. "I've been thinking about Primrose. She's only twelve, still a little girl, but now she'll be coming to the Capitol a lot. The poor girl is too young to even _date_ —and she will be too young to date for a few years yet. She'll be _so lonely_ here in the Capitol, but she's nice and I like her, so I want to help her."

"Help her how?" Grandpa asked, his voice wary.

"Let Primrose come to the Mansion and play with me. I want to be a big sister to her." Fourteen-year-old Minerva did not need to remind Grandpa that she had no younger sisters by blood.

Grandpa looked at Minerva, and she could tell that he wanted to say _Out of the question_. Instead, Grandpa said, "Miss Primrose Everdeen is district, and she is a proven killer; whereas you are my granddaughter. Why create extra work for my security detail?"

"Because I trust her. She has a kind heart, I can tell. She's not really a killer; she did that stuff only for the Games. _Please_ , would you at least _think_ about letting her come here?"

He sighed. "Very well, Minerva. I will think about inviting Miss Everdeen here, whenever she is in the Capitol. But I make no promise beyond that."

"Thank you, Grandpa." Minerva kissed him on the forehead—even though she knew this would give the bodyguards conniptions—and walked out of the library.

* * *

 **One second later**

As soon as the door shut and Minerva was gone from the library, Coriolanus Snow sighed deeply.

In the Capitol was a brothel that everyone knew about, but nobody talked about. The House of Juvenal's prostitutes were all beautiful boys and girls, aged between eight and eighteen, and they were all district orphans. Recruiters often made false promises to persuade the children to leave their home district's Community Home, but the recruiters always made one true promise: "As long as you're living in the Capitol, you won't be Reaped." This one promise, by itself, was usually all that needed to be said.

Just a few minutes ago, Captain Cray had told Snow that five years ago, it had been iffy whether the Everdeen sisters would wind up in the District Twelve Community Home. Snow had no doubt at all that, had this happened, Primrose Everdeen now would be working in the House of Juvenal, and maybe Katniss Everdeen would be an underage prostitute there as well.

But instead of the sisters being put into the District Twelve Community Home and eventually into the House of Juvenal, Katniss Everdeen had started hunting for meat outside the fence, and had become skilled at it. Now Primrose Everdeen was a co-Victor, and Katniss Everdeen was selling fresh turkeys to Cray.

Right after that idiot Seneca Crane had declared the Twelves to be co-Victors, Snow had taken a phone call from a man who had asked whether Primrose would be prostituted. Only Snow's ever-present caution stopped him from blurting out a yes. Primrose Everdeen would be a little gold mine from now till her forties, Snow knew.

But how could Snow prostitute Primrose Everdeen at twelve without Minerva realizing what he was doing? He could not, he realized, not at all.

Snow imagined Minerva, her face distorted by anger, challenging him: "You're _whoring out_ a twelve-year-old girl? The _nicest_ twelve-year-old girl in Panem? You are evil and disgusting, and I hate you!"

Snow had a big problem. Disappointing Minerva in this way—it was unthinkable. But whoring out Primrose—besides Snow raking in thousands of PDs, being whored out would humble the child, as it humbled all Victors, and Snow was beginning to think that Primrose and Peeta needed humbling most of all.

What to do, what to do?

* * *

 **Five minutes later  
** **District Twelve**

Cray was lucky: He found Katniss Everdeen on his second try. Katniss was in the Square, talking to the shoe-store owner's pudgy blond daughter.

For Cray, this was the good news.

The bad news was that ten meters away from Katniss stood Gale Hawthorne, Katniss's hunting partner; and Madge Undersee, the district mayor's daughter. Both of them were closely watching Cray, and each of them could make trouble for Cray, in his or her own way.

Cray now said, "Katniss Everdeen, I ask you to come with me to my office. There is something I need to tell you." Snow had ordered Cray to apologize to Katniss, and Cray would indeed say _I'm sorry_ —but Snow was asking too much if he wanted Cray to apologize to some surly District Twelve teenager _publicly_.

The pudgy blond girl next to Katniss looked worried; but Katniss herself, damn her, looked defiant. " _Go_ with you? What for? Am I under arrest?"

Gale Hawthorne and Madge Undersee walked over to listen. _Fuck_ , Cray thought.

Meanwhile, Cray was saying, "No, I'm not arresting you. Do you see other Peacekeepers here with me? I'm here because I'm asking to talk to you."

"In your office," Katniss said. "Where nobody but other Peacekeepers can see what happens with you and me."

"Why do you think anything is going to happen?" Cray replied, annoyed.

Nobody answered that question with words, but all four District Twelve teens shared a look.

Katniss said to Madge, "Do you have twenty PDs with you? I'll pay you back, promise."

Gale helped Madge take her purse out of her book bag. Madge pulled two ten-PD coins out of her purse and handed them to Katniss—

—who held the coins up in Cray's face. "Twenty PDs, which is your going rate, right?" _For hiring starving Seam girls as your whores_ was what Katniss meant. "But Cray, I already have the money. So I can't think of any reason to go anywhere alone with you."

Cray said, "Everdeen, I _just want to talk to you_."

Gale Hawthorne laughed. " 'Talk,' is _that_ what you call it? Kids at the Slag Heap call it something else."

Katniss crossed her arms as she glared at Cray. "You want to talk with me? How about right here, _hm?_ The sun is shining and the weather is nice."

And this was how Paulus Cray, Peacekeeper Captain, apologized for how he had treated Katniss, and how he had treated her mother, while half the people in the Square listened to Cray humiliate himself.

Cray was about to return to the Peacekeeper Barracks, with what dignity he had left, when Katniss raised a hand. "So how did Prim get Reaped, when she had only one slip in the glass ball? Did you rig the Reaping?"

"No, I did not. I was angry, but not _that_ angry."

Cray looked around, at all the District Twelve faces surrounding him. It was obvious to him that _nobody_ believed his words.

But hey, the apology could have gone worse. Cray had not told Katniss that Snow had ordered Cray to let the girl kick him in the shin, and she had not figured it out on her own.

* * *

 **Several hours later  
** **In the Capitol**

Peeta was holding his sword down by his side. Prim had her knife tucked inside her belt, and her darkness-vision glasses were tucked into the inside pocket of her tribute-uniform jacket. Prim had two half-arrows stuck into her boots; Peeta's boots held three.

Thus armed, Peeta and Prim both walked down the cargo ramp of the Victor-hovercraft—onto the roof of a building. Waiting for the two new Victors were their mentor and their escort.

Peeta looked over at Haymitch and Effie. Peeta asked, "Why are we on the roof of a building?"

Effie said, "This is Victor Health Hospital—"

Prim gasped. "Really? Oh, _wow!_ "

Effie said, " _Manners_ , Primrose, please don't interrupt. What they shall do here at Victor Health Hospital is to examine you and heal anything wrong with you."

Peeta said, "I feel fine."

Prim grabbed Peeta's unsworded hand in both of hers. "I feel fine too, but this is _Victor Health Hospital!_ If they tell me they want to check me for Red Dye Jitters, I'll let them!"

Peeta was confused. "I thought Red Dye Jitters happened only in District Eight."

Haymitch said, "I've never heard of a Victor walking off the hovercraft here, instead of being carried off, so you kids have just made history. I don't expect you to be here long. But Peeta, let them do whatever they want with you—figure this place is the Remake Center with stethoscopes."

Behind Haymitch and Effie were two Capitols in medical clothing, each pushing an empty wheelchair. Prim ran to one of the wheelchairs and eagerly dropped herself into it; Peeta had to be persuaded to sit down in the other wheelchair.

Peeta's wheelchair-pusher looked nervously at the sword that Peeta was holding, but did not suggest that Peeta give the sword to someone else.

* * *

 **An hour later  
** **The cafeteria of Victor Health Hospital**

Dr. Michaelsen and Peeta walked up to Haymitch and Effie, who each were eating tasteless lamb stew.

Dr. Michaelsen was holding a clipboard and smiling. Peeta was wearing street clothes and carrying an oblong cardboard box; Peeta was grinning like a fool. Peeta had a big flesh-colored adhesive bandage on the inside of his left elbow.

Dr. Michaelsen said, "Mr. Abernathy, this is cause for celebration. _Never_ has this hospital discharged any after-arena Victor this soon."

Haymitch looked Peeta over, then his eyes returned to the doctor's face. "So how _are_ the kids? Both 100-percent healthy, yeah?"

"Miss Everdeen and Mr. Mellark here had only one medical problem: slightly high levels of disease-causing microorganisms in their bloodstreams."

Peeta said, "He told me it came from not waiting long enough for the iodine droplets to work before we drank the lake water." Peeta looked at Haymitch and shrugged. "You know how that goes."

Effie didn't understand, her look said. Haymitch explained: "Sweetheart, after you add the drops, when you don't have a watch and you can't see a clock, you ain't going to wait thirty minutes before you drink the water."

Dr. Michaelsen said, "Actually, we recommend forty-five minutes. An hour would be even better."

Peeta laughed. "Not happening, doctor. I swear, holding that jug of water, after I added the drops, made me twice as thirsty, twice as fast. My blood would have been _much_ more germy if Prim hadn't been right there, acting all hardcore about the thirty-minute wait."

Dr. Michaelsen flipped through papers on his clipboard; then he said to Haymitch, "Each Victor was given our simplest blood-filtration procedure. After this, both Victors were discharged."

Haymitch frowned. "If Prim is discharged, where is she?"

Peeta grinned. "Last I saw of her, she was standing in the hallway, five floors up, talking to doctors. She was smiling; they were smiling. I think she was picking their brains."

Speaking of whom, just then grinning Prim and a smiling nurse walked into the cafeteria. Prim likewise was wearing street clothes and was likewise holding a (smaller) cardboard box; her own adhesive bandage was on the inside of her right elbow.

Prim's first words to Haymitch and Effie were, "Guess what? They blood-filtered me, just like they did Katniss, and they let me ask _lots_ of questions. And Dr. Winters asked me to autograph his copy of _Gray's Anatomy_. And Dr. Miller said I could probably get a tour of the hospital if I asked them. _Please_ , Haymitch, is it okay if I tour the hospital?" Prim looked at Haymitch with puppy-dog eyes.

Haymitch and Effie exchanged an amused look.

Haymitch said to Prim, "Have fun, sweetheart."

Prim dropped her cardboard box on the table. Then she hugged Peeta and hugged Effie; Prim even hugged Haymitch.

Effie smiled at both Peeta and Prim, gushing, "Oh, I am _so proud_ of my two lovely Victors!" Then she added, "I will order Florius to begin work on your Victor-interview outfits. I shall expect him to design clothes that flatter and honor Panem's first _joint_ Victors. Probably tomorrow night, Caesar will want to do his interview. I am sure you both will _shine_."

Peeta and Prim both smiled and shrugged.

Then Prim and the nurse hurried away from Haymitch's and Effie's table.

At the doorway, Prim stopped and turned around. "Haymitch, in my box is my tribute uniform, my knife, my half-arrows, and my darkness-vision glasses. If my nifty glasses go missing, I _will_ hunt you down and kill you."

Prim was smiling when she said this, so Haymitch _thought_ she was kidding.

Grinning Peeta tapped the side of his own cardboard box. "If Prim needs backup, my sword is in here. Ha, ha, just kidding."

Effie looked at Haymitch with raised eyebrows.

Haymitch said, "All new Victors are ready to fight anybody. They're a little crazy."

Dr. Michaelsen nodded. "It makes treating you a challenge."

* * *

 **An hour later  
** **The Training Center**

As soon as Prim and Peeta, Haymitch, and Effie had walked into their twelfth-floor apartment, Prim ditched her cardboard box in her bedroom, then urged everyone to go downstairs and go outside.

"Why? What for?" Haymitch asked, puzzled.

"To sign autographs!" Prim replied, her eyes alight. "To pose for pictures. To do the whole 'celebrity' thing."

Effie clapped her hands. "Primrose, I _like_ the way you think!"

Peeta grinned. "I'm up for it. Haymitch?"

"Fine," he grumbled.

And so the four people soon found themselves amid the crowd of Capitols in the City Circle. The crowd loved it when Peeta and Prim danced the "Capitol Party Party" dance; at Peeta's request, some Capitols who were Haymitch's age danced the original version of the dance from twenty-two years ago. A good time was had by all.

The impromptu outdoor celebration ended for the new Victors only when Haymitch and Effie had to go back to the apartment and get ready for a "Victors Tonight" interview. As Prim loved watching "Victors Tonight," she promptly waved a smiling goodbye to the crowd of Capitols, then Prim walked back into the Training Center along with Peeta, Haymitch, and Effie.

* * *

 **That night  
** **Seneca Crane's apartment**

This afternoon, this had not been how Seneca Crane had expected his day to end. Crane had expected the Games to end today, yes, but ending with either Marvel or Marina as Victor.

Crane had expected to be the man of the hour at a dozen Capitol parties this evening, flirting with beautiful girls and taking one or two girls home with him. In a best-case scenario, Crane had imagined himself "consoling" sad, sad Effie Trinket.

Instead, it was Crane who had needed consoling. Soon after he himself had declared both Twelves to be Victors, Crane had pleaded a headache and had gone home as soon as he could, foregoing all parties.

Now Crane was alone in his apartment, except for his Avox manservant Apollo, a cold beer in hand, three empty beer bottles, and the holoprojector—which was showing Capitol after-Games parties on every channel.

"Victors Tonight" was showing a joint interview with Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket. The eleven-year-long bickering between those two was still going on, but the viciousness was gone. Haymitch's and Effie's verbal back-and-forth now was playful, even ... _flirty?_

* * *

INTERVIEWER: We hear that Florius Donaldson will be transferred to District Seven after your Victors' Victory Tour.

HAYMITCH: Watch out, Johanna. Your tributes will still be dressed as trees, but now they'll be dressed as _purple_ trees.

EFFIE: Florius, ignore Haymitch, he has no manners. Congratulations on your promotion.

HAYMITCH: Funny how there's no mention of _you_ getting promoted out of Twelve, sweetheart.

EFFIE: Because you are a cave-dweller, Haymitch. Things get done during the Games only because _I_ am there to do them. But at least you are _built_ like a cave-dweller, so that if I ignore your constant drunkenness, you are nice to look at.

HAYMITCH: Same here, sweetheart. Your screechy voice hurts my ears and you dress like a parrot; but I won't lie, you're a beautiful woman. So it's good you're staying, yeah?

* * *

To Crane, Effie Trinket now looked like she was as far as she could go from needing "consoling." Sad Crane looked at beaming Effie and smirking Haymitch, and took another swallow of beer.

 _How did I get outsmarted by a twelve-year-old girl from Twelve?_ Crane wondered, for the 1,649th time that day. _Where did I go wrong?_

The doorbell rang. Crane sent Apollo to answer the door. "Tell whoever it is that I'm not going out and he can't come in."

Yet not ten seconds after Apollo answered the door, Apollo stepped aside and let three men walk in. Before Crane could yell _Get the fuck out before I call the Peacekeepers_ , he saw who his visitors were. Two of the visitors were bodyguards, who patted-down both Crane and Apollo, then efficiently searched Crane's apartment.

Crane, meanwhile, had stood up (drunkenly wobbling in the process). "Mister President!" he said to Snow. Crane couldn't help it; he wet his pants right then.

Snow stood there, looking at Crane but not speaking, waiting until his bodyguards gave him the all-clear. In the almost-silence, Crane heard strange noises coming from the outside of his apartment door.

At last Snow said to Crane, "You have set a disastrous precedent, but I like you. Tell me why I should not have you killed."

" _What else_ was I supposed to do, call the girl's bluff and let both Twelves die? Sixty-seventh Hunger Games, Juliusa Wellesley died from her injuries, ten minutes after being declared Victor; the Head Gamemaker was arrested and executed the same day. Thirty-eighth Hunger Games, a boy from Eight won, then he suicided with a scalpel in Victor Health Hospital; the Head Gamemaker was shot. With Everdeen, I _knew_ she was up to something but I couldn't guess what; neither Heavensbee nor any of the junior Gamemakers had any idea either. Then suddenly it's 'Make us both Victors or we both die,' and I had _eight fucking seconds_ to decide!"

"We would not have had this problem, _you_ would not have had this problem, if your mutt had killed the Twelves."

"And I told you ahead of time that Mutt-Katniss needed more time, but you ordered me to send her in anyway. Both of the Twelves somehow spotted the mutt as fake, which we don't think would have happened with more time."

"So you are saying that it is my fault that Mutt-Katniss failed to infiltrate and to terminate the Twelves."

Crane stood silent. He wanted to say _You bet your ass it's your fault, blood-breath_ , but Crane suspected he would not like the consequences.

Snow walked to the door, which his bodyguards opened. One of the bodyguards ducked outside to grab something which he set on the floor of the apartment; but Crane did not dare look. Instead, Crane's eyes were on Snow's eyes during the entire time, looking for mercy. Alas, Crane saw no mercy in those eyes.

Snow's last words to Crane were, "You have three hundred seconds. Then we open the door, you kneel, and Hefaestus shoots."

Crane screamed in his head _I don't deserve to die! I've done nothing wrong!_ It was not until Snow walked out of Crane's apartment—taking Apollo with him—that Crane saw the irony in a Gamemaker thinking this way.

What had been left on the floor of Crane's apartment? A bowl of berries, it turned out. Crane suspected they were not blueberries.

Crane was not surprised to discover that, while the doorknob turned freely, the door failed to open.

Crane looked down again at the bowl of berries. He had less than five minutes to make the last choice of his life. Crane thought, _At least being shot in the back of the head wouldn't hurt as much as being pecked to death_. Snow had shown Crane a small kindness.


	17. Meeting Other Victors

**Chapter 17**  
 **Meeting Other Victors**

 **At breakfast the next morning**

While buttering a roll, Haymitch said to Peeta and Prim, "Kids, this evening at six will be your recap of the Games. It's three hours long. You will hate it. You will wish you could be anywhere else. Not allowed. You will want to close your eyes, or look away. Not allowed. It's less unpleasant than dying in the arena, but not by much."

Both new Victors nodded, their eyes big.

"Tomorrow night is the Victor Interview—or rather, Vic _tors_ Interview, in your case. If you were a Career, when Caesar asked you, 'What were you thinking then?', he would expect you to be spouting nonsense about 'upholding the honor of your district.' Needless to say, talk like that won't be believed in District Twelve." Haymitch smiled. "But you have another option, the Johanna Mason approach: 'I killed that broke-dick Career because otherwise the pretty-boy piece of shit would've killed _me!_ ' "

Prim and Peeta laughed.

"At the end of the interview, normally President Snow would crown the new Victor. I gotta be honest, I don't know how that will play out this year, because I hear that Snow is _royally pissed_ at you two."

Peeta and Prim looked worried.

"Normally, after the Interview, there would be sponsor parties in the Capitol that the new Victor would be _expected_ to attend for the rest of the night. But I spent no sponsor-pledge money on you two, and Effie paid back all the sponsor-pledge money, so you're skipping the parties. Trust me, except for the free booze, parties thrown by Capitols are a waste of your time, so you won't be missing anything. Instead, after your interview with Caesar, you will change clothes, Effie will see us off, and we'll begin the trainride back to Twelve."

Peeta asked, "So two days from now, we'll be back in Twelve? Then finally we can be back with our families?" Clearly what Peeta meant was _Two days from now, finally I can ask Katniss out on a date?_

Haymitch shrugged. "Once we return to Twelve, you'll be hit with some more dog-and-pony show—I'll tell you about that when the time is near. Figure the Capitol Liaison will give a speech, Mayor Undersee will give a speech, and each of you will give a speech."

Prim and Peeta shared a glance. " _That_ part is easy," Prim said.

Haymitch laughed. "Yeah, for you two, I suppose it will be."

Haymitch took a deep pull from his flask. Then he said, "Now comes the lecture I've never given before, and it's been twenty-four years since I heard it myself, so don't be surprised if I fuck it up. I'm going to tell you about the perks of being a Victor."

Prim started to say something, but Haymitch held up a hand, "Yeah, sweetheart, I know you see me as a drunk and a joke. But there are a few good things about my life—mainly the money—and now you two will enjoy those things too. But I'll also spell out the _shit_ about being a Victor, which 'Victors Tonight' never mentions."

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Peeta said, "I'll take your word that in a few days, I can buy a car. But why would I _want_ a car? District Twelve is small enough that anyplace I want to go, I can walk to."

Prim said to Haymitch, " _You_ don't even have a car. Only the Capitol Liaison has a car."

"Showing off," Peeta muttered.

Haymitch threw up his hands in frustration. "I mentioned buying a car only to give an example. The point is, now both of you are 'emancipated minors,' which means each of you can sign contracts."

Just then, the elevator _ding_ ed. Seconds later, a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man in his forties—with his left hand missing—appeared in Twelve's living room. "Hey buddy," he said to Haymitch, "you free soon? Or are you doing mentor-stuff all day?"

Haymitch replied, "Right now I'm giving them 'the birds and the bees lecture.' We got stuck on buying a car. Can you help me out?"

"Sure, no problem," the visitor said. He walked toward Peeta and Prim, his right hand out. "Hello, I'm Chaff Mitchell. I'm one of two Victors from Eleven, Thresh's mentor, and _your_ mentor's drinking buddy."

Haymitch added, "Chaff and Seeder also each bought a car."

"Why?" Prim asked; then she blushed. "That was rude. Forget I said it."

Chaff shrugged. "Has Haymitch explained to you about talents?" Both Prim and Peeta nodded. "Seeder's talent is dance, so she travels around Eleven teaching little girls to dance. Me, I'm a folk historian—I talk to old people about district history, I write down what they tell me, then I send a copy to the Capitol."

Chaff looked at Haymitch. "By the way, did you know that nobody in Eleven ever wore darkness-vision glasses till after the Dark Days? During and before the Dark Days, harvest-work ended at sundown. An interesting little tidbit of trivia, I think."

Chaff looked at Prim and Peeta again. "Anyway, District Eleven is millions of hectares big, so Seeder and I each need our car in order to use our talent."

"Sure, okay, that makes sense," Peeta said.

After Peeta spoke, there was silence, which stretched out.

"Um, can I ask you a question?" Peeta said. "You don't have to answer—"

Chaff lifted his handless left forearm. "When I was seventeen, I thought I would get more sex back in Eleven if the girls all saw me as brave and deadly. I thought passing up a prosthetic hand would help with that."

Again, silence stretched.

Haymitch said, "Sweetheart over there is dying to ask why you _still_ don't have a prosthetic hand. After all, it's been twenty-nine years since your Games."

Prim fiercely nodded. "The Capitol can do such amazing things with prosthetics—I've seen it on holo. They could make you a hand that looks almost real, and that works almost like a real one!"

Chaff said, "Capitols have this idea that every district person cries himself to sleep because he wasn't born as a Capitol. 'Victors Tonight' loves to show Victors dressing like Capitols and going to Capitol parties, because it fits with Capitols' idea that all Victors want to be Capitols."

Prim said, "But you don't, right? Nobody thinks _Haymitch_ wants to be a Capitol."

Chaff looked at Haymitch and laughed. "Truer words, girl, truer words. _How much_ shit has Haymitch given to Effie on-air, huh?"

Then Chaff's face sobered. "But 'Victors Tonight' shows Victors at Capitol parties for another reason besides making Capitols feel smug. VT shows that shit because it puts ideas in district people's heads: 'This Victor isn't one of us anymore. He's a Capitol-lover now.' If the people of your district decide you're a Capitol-lover, when you return to your district, district people will shun you. The Capitol _wants_ every Victor to lose all his friends in the district. Well, until the day I get a fake hand, nobody in Eleven will ever believe I'm a Capitol wannabee, so I've kept all my District Eleven friends."

Chaff looked at Prim very somberly. "Also, since I'm a cripple, when I have to be in the Capitol, I don't get ... requested. While Finnick and Cashmere get _requested_ a lot."

Prim said, "I don't understand."

Peeta said, his face angry, "I understand very clearly. How does Prim not get 'requested'?"

Chaff said gently, "Mellark, you don't want to know the answer to that—"

Peeta said, "Yes, I do."

"—because you yourself are a handsome boy. I expect soon _you'll_ be requested."

Haymitch said, "When your entire family and your girlfriend dies, or your boyfriend dies, in 'unfortunate accidents,' then you can turn down 'requests.' "

Chaff said, "That's what happened to Haymitch. And to Johanna Mason. _I_ got off lucky: I bought my freedom from that shit for only the price of a hand."

Prim's face was white. "Victors are _whored out?_ "

Haymitch said, "Yes, sweetheart. _You'll_ be whored out too, unless you choose to let loved ones die. It's fucked up, but it's your life now."

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Haymitch said to Chaff, "I was going to warn them about new-Victor scams, but the only one I remember is the 'sunken treasure' scam. All I remember about it was thinking, 'There are super-rich guys in the Capitol, but you're asking a _sixteen-year-old boy_ for money?' "

Chaff looked at Peeta and Prim. "You've heard stories of 'Sunken Florida,' south of District Eleven, right? Sunken cities, millions of people drowned in hectometers-tall tidal waves, ghosts on the water, the ghost ship _Miami Princess_? Well, that's all bullshit—so people from Four tell me—but south of Sunken Florida are genuine sunken ships. And some of the ships from a thousand years ago, sunk with gold and silver bars on them. That part's true, and the fact that nobody knows where these ships sank, is also true."

Haymitch took over: "So right after you've moved into your house and you have a telephone for the first time in your life, some guy with a Capitol accent calls you up. He knows _exactly_ where one of these ships is! And he hired out the building of a special underwater ship that can go down, collect all the gold and silver bars, and bring them up. Everyone involved will be rich! The trouble is, some guy in Four has built the special ship, it's finished, it works, all that's left is to pay the Four guy for his work—but he doesn't want to be paid in gold bars, and the Capitol guy doesn't have near enough ten-PD coins to pay the stupid District Four guy—"

Chaff added sarcastically, "Because _of course_ if there is a stupid idiot moron in the story, it'll be a district guy. Everyone _knows_ all Capitols are smart!"

Haymitch said, "Anyway, all I know is that, twenty-four years later, I've never heard of any gold bars actually being brought to the surface; and Victors from Four all roll their eyes when I mention 'sunken treasure.' "

Chaff looked at Haymitch and smiled. "Buddy, if you're serious about giving your new Victors 'the birds and the bees lecture,' you should have them talk to Victors who have either given the lecture, or heard the lecture, much more recently. Skip One and Two—those Career Victors are all snooty—but talk to the others."

Haymitch slapped a hand over his heart in melodramatic shock. "You want me to foist the crazy bitch _Johanna_ on innocent Prim and lovesick Peeta?" Then Haymitch grinned big. "Sounds like a plan. _To the elevator, Victors!_ "

* * *

 **A minute later**

Johanna looked Peeta up and down, then gave him a slag-heap smile. "If things with Whatzername don't work out, look me up the next time you're in the Capitol."

Prim said hotly, "If _I_ have anything to say about it, the romance between Peeta and my sister Katniss will be a story for the _ages!_ A best-selling _trilogy_ , even!"

Haymitch drawled, "Kids, Johanna here is jerking _both_ your chains. This, or telling you to fuck off and die in a forest fire, is how Johanna says _Pleased to meet you_."

Johanna crossed her arms and glared at Haymitch. "How dare you slander me! The only people I've ever told to their faces to go die in a forest fire were Brutus and Enobaria. Fine—also Gloss and Cashmere. And Finnick, when I first met him—but now Finnick is my friend. Seneca Crane and Plutarch Heavensbee, once or twice. Claudius Templesmith once, but I was drunk then. Snow, _repeatedly_. Besides, these two kids killed _three Careers_ between them—they're both okay in my book."

Peeta asked, "Do you have any advice for us, as new Victors?"

Johanna looked at Prim and Peeta, and her face showed anger. "Haymitch, have you taken them to the Three-level, to talk to Beetee?"

* * *

 **Seconds later**

The elevator was crowded, with five people—Peeta, Prim, Haymitch, Chaff, and Johanna—riding down to the third floor.

As soon as the five Victors stepped into Three's living room, Johanna pointed to the ceiling, then covered her ears. The bespectacled man who was a District Three Victor nodded and placed an electronic device on the table. On the device, a light showed green.

He said, "No bugs can hear us now. But it's not smart to use it too long or too often. Why have I turned it on?"

Next to the bespectacled man stood a plain-faced woman. "Birds and bees?" she asked.

Johanna said, "Wow, Wiress, I actually understood what you meant there." Seeing the bespectacled man's frown, Johanna explained to Peeta and Prim, "This is Beetee and Wiress, who are smarter than any three of us. But Wiress got her head banged up in her Games. She's still smart, but now she talks funny."

"Tick-tock," Wiress said.

Beetee said, "The clock is running, Johanna. Whatever you want to say to our newest Victors, say it _now_."

Johanna turned to Peeta and Prim. "The Capitol is filled with creeps and perverts, and Snow lets them play with us Victors like we're toys. You two are beautiful. I've never been beautiful, but that didn't stop Snow from whoring me out on my Victory Tour. Correction: He _tried_ to whore me out. Snow was the first person in the Capitol whom I told to die in a forest fire. I refused to even kiss any guy, much less suck his dick, no matter how much sponsor money the guy had given Blight."

Peeta whistled. "Whoa, no compromise with _you!_ What happened next?"

"Within two weeks, my parents, my younger sister, my brother's wife, and my brother's infant son all were trapped in our log cabin when it burned down; and both my brother and my boyfriend fell to their deaths when their safety harnesses 'failed.' Nothing has changed since my Games and yours: When Snow tells you to let some Capitol _freak_ fuck you painfully, you have two choices: To let the freak do what he wants, or to watch people die. There is no third choice; I'm sorry."

All the older Victors looked surprised; Peeta gathered than Johanna saying _I'm sorry_ did not happen often.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Beetee picked up his gizmo and made a show of turning it off. He looked at Peeta and asked, "About 'the birds and the bees lecture,' has anyone warned you about scams they try to run on new Victors?"

Haymitch said, "I warned them about sunken treasure."

Beetee said, "You two also should know that perpetual-motion machines are impossible, so don't invest in one; and there is no such thing as an engine that runs off water."

As the three Twelves were about to leave, Beetee said, "Peeta and Primrose, now each of you may legally drink. But I strongly urge you not to take up the practice." Beetee then looked at Haymitch with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

 **A minute later**

Peeta and Prim had already postponed visiting the Victors of Four; now such a visit was delayed again while the new Twelve Victors offered to "escort" Johanna and Chaff to their home floors. Chaff's parting words were, "Relax, newbies. SurfEllen is not mad at you, even if you _did_ kill her tribute."

As the elevator descended, Haymitch said, "He's right, by the way. SurfEllen isn't mad at you."

Prim said, "How can she _not_ be mad at us?"

Haymitch said, "She isn't. You'll see."

On those words, the elevator stopped at the fourth floor and the doors opened.

Both Twelve tributes recognized the notorious Finnick; also on the Four floor was a redheaded woman in her twenties.

Finnick looked at Haymitch with a raised eyebrow; Haymitch said, "Birds and bees."

Finnick made a sweeping bow to the new Victors and said, "First of all, the most important things you need to know: The law that says it's death to pass counterfeit paper PDs if you're District, doesn't change if you're a Victor. So only accept, and only spend, PD _coins_ , never PD _bills_. Two, don't eat at any Capitol restaurant advertising 'authentic District Twelve food' unless you see on the wall, photos of the owner in District Twelve. Also, expect to fall off your chair when you see the prices! Thirdly, if some guy in Four could build a submarine that could perform salvage at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, would he really build it just to sell it to some Capitol guy who, so far as you know, has never been in water deeper than Capitol Lake?"

"And number four," said the redheaded woman, as she walked smiling toward Peeta and Prim, "mentors understand, better than everyone else, what 'kill or be killed' means. So when another tribute kills my tribute, this doesn't mean that I think the other tribute is evil and I hate her." The woman opened her arms wide, hugging both Peeta and Prim at the same time. "Welcome to the fraternity of Victors, Peeta and Primrose. I'm SurfEllen Cassidy, and I'm sure you know Finnick Odair."

Prim sniffled. "Marina was always nice to us. Even in the Training Center, when cameras wouldn't show her being nice."

Peeta nodded. "It was Marina who told me how to climb the rope ladder in the Training Center. And later, Marina didn't gang up on me when I was fighting Marvel."

SurfEllen nodded, her eyes shiny with unshed tears. "Marina understood honor in a way that those pretenders in One and Two never will."

Then SurfEllen looked at Haymitch. "When your Victors are in Four for their Victory Tour, bring them by my house. Tell your escort that I insist, and she'd _better_ make the time."

All three District Twelve Victors laughed. Even Peeta and Prim had figured out that Effie was always hardcore about her schedules.

* * *

 **A little after 9 a.m.**

When the three Victors returned to the twelfth floor, they found the redheaded servant girl waiting for them.

Peeta saw that the young woman was trembling—from excitement? From fear?

The redheaded servant girl was holding a small, cream-colored envelope in her hand. She thrust the envelope at Haymitch, then stepped back to await his orders.

When Haymitch opened the envelope, Peeta saw that the words were not printed with a printing press, but rather had been handwritten by a calligrapher.

" _This_ is a first," Haymitch muttered. The cynical, worldly-wise facade was gone; Haymitch seemed genuinely surprised. Speaking normally, he said, "At noon, the four of us—Effie too—are invited to have 'luncheon' with President Snow and Minerva Snow."


	18. Lunch with the Snows

In Chapter 5 of _The Hunger Games_ , a Capitol lunch is described from Katniss's point of view: "...Chicken and chunks of orange cooked in a creamy sauce laid on a bed of pearly white grain, tiny green peas and onions, rolls shaped like flowers, and for dessert, a pudding the color of honey.

"I try to imagine assembling this meal myself back home. Chickens are too expensive, but I could make do with a wild turkey. I'd need to shoot a second turkey to trade for an orange. Goat's milk would have to substitute for cream. We can grow peas in the garden. I'd have to get wild onions from the woods. I don't recognize the grain, our own tessera ration cooks down to an unattractive brown mush. Fancy rolls would mean another trade with the baker, perhaps for two or three squirrels. As for the pudding, I can't even guess what's in it. Days of hunting and gathering for this one meal and even then it would be a poor substitute for the Capitol version."

 _Hunger Games_ AU fanfic "Absolution" by SFCBruce, Chapter 24, has a similar character arc for Snow's granddaughter as in this chapter.

 **Chapter 18**  
 **Lunch with the Snows**

 **A little after 9 a.m.**

" _This_ is a first," Haymitch muttered. Speaking normally, he said, "At noon, the four of us—Effie too—are invited to have 'luncheon' with President Snow and Minerva Snow—"

Prim said, "The president's fourteen-year-old granddaughter, right?"

"Right. 'Dress is casual.' Even so, Effie will have a panic attack."

As Haymitch walked over to the telephone, he called out over his shoulder, "Pick out what you're going to wear from what's already in your closet. Three hours doesn't give us time to bring in 'Glorious Florius' for this."

* * *

 **11:58 a.m.  
At the City Circle entrance to the Presidential Mansion**

Effie arrived by taxi. Peeta noted that Effie's definition of "casual" meant pressed, form-fitting yellow pants and high-heeled blue-denim sneakers. Effie's wig, Peeta saw, was mint-green, to match her blouse.

Haymitch presented the invitation to one of two huge Peacekeepers, who glanced at the text of the invitation before picking up a telephone. Less than a minute later, a well-dressed Capitol woman was leading the Twelve team down a hallway where _everything_ that Peeta saw was expensive.

Things sparkled in the hallway ceiling; Peeta wondered if the sparkles came from artificial diamonds that District One had made from District Twelve coal. The ceiling had _lots_ of sparkles in it.

Neither Prim nor Peeta spoke, which to Peeta was the natural response to their situation; belatedly Peeta realized that Haymitch and Effie also were quiet.

The Capitol woman led the visitors to a door, outside of which two big men and one stern woman waited. The stern woman patted down Effie and Prim; Peeta was _thoroughly_ patted down by one of the big men.

When the bodyguards were satisfied, only then was the door opened and the Twelve team allowed to walk through.

Waiting just inside the door were President Snow and a teenage girl. The girl's light-brown hair was styled into a "Primrose braid." She was trembling and grinning, and clearly excited; President Snow was a motionless, emotionless statue with a pasted-on smile.

President Snow introduced his granddaughter to the Twelves, and vice versa. Afterward, he said, "Thank you for setting aside your plans for today in order to have lunch with us."

None of the Twelve team answered that skipping this lunch was not a choice.

Minerva Snow smiled at Prim and said, "I can't believe I get to meet you guys before the banquet!"

Only then did Peeta let himself look around. The dining room he was now standing in, made the dining room on the tribute train look like Greasy Sae's soup stall by comparison.

Standing by the gigantic table were five unspeaking servants: three men and two women. Oddly, these servants were wearing the same burgundy servant livery as the gorgeous redheaded woman back in Twelve's apartment.

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Of course President Snow sat at the head of the rectangular table. To Snow's right sat Minerva, then Effie; to the president's left sat Haymitch, then Peeta, then Prim.

Currently all six people at the table were eating soup—specifically, turkey-egg soup with "rice" and chopped-up wild onions. Peeta did not mention to the Capitols present that he had never eaten rice before, and the rice-thingies looked to Peeta like dead maggots. Wild onions grew out in the woods around District Twelve; Peeta knew the taste of wild onions only because Gale Hawthorne and Katniss traded illegally with Peeta's father.

Near each person was a basket of bleached-flour wheat rolls—Peeta saw as many rolls in each basket as Mellark's Bakery would sell in a day. Between Peeta's plate and his basket of rolls was a handleless cup that held what Peeta guessed to be cow's-milk butter. Peeta had not tasted butter since he had been five years old (after which, Medea Mellark had beaten her son painfully; butter was for _recipes only!_ )

Snow watched with a smirk as Peeta bit into a roll.

Apparently Snow was not the only one who noticed. Haymitch interrupted a "How do you like the Capitol?" conversation between Minerva and Prim to ask Peeta, "So how's the roll, compared to home?"

Peeta said, "This roll tastes sweeter than even the most expensive rolls Dad bakes."

"Not surprised," Haymitch said, while he seemingly gave his attention to spooning soup. "Sugar is affordable here." _But not anywhere else_ went unspoken.

Peeta saw Snow frown, while Minerva looked confused. Minerva bit into a roll, then shot Peeta a look of _What am I missing?_

* * *

 **A minute later**

Minerva had switched her giddy questioning from Prim to Peeta.

Peeta was saying, "...Going along the parade route, I just happened to look at this girl in the stands. About my age, I _think_. She was very Capitol—cornflower-blue wig, a sunflower-colored butterfly on each cheek, and cornflower-blue lipstick. I'd never seen blue lipstick on a girl before."

Haymitch said, "Effie wore blue lipstick, her first Reaping in Twelve. I told her _never_ to wear it again."

"Why?" Minerva asked.

"Because it's an unnatural color for a woman's lips, and very disturbing."

Effie said, "Haymitch, you interrupted Peeta, which is rude." Haymitch shrugged instead of apologizing. Effie said to Peeta, "Please continue your story."

"Anyway, the _second_ I made eye contact with the girl with cornflower-blue lipstick, she yelled, 'I LOVE YOU, PEETA!' I didn't—and still don't—know how to answer that."

Snow said, "I am surprised that you remember her colors so well, a week later. I am even more surprised that you know the _names_ for the colors. I would expect such from Florius Donaldson, not from a District Twelve teenager who has declared his devotion to Primrose's older sister."

Peeta ignored the implied insult. "I remember colors, and their names, because I love art. The easiest part of being a Victor, so far, has been deciding my talent: I'm going to be a painter."

Prim clapped her hands and grinned. "You will be _so good_ at it!" To the rest of the room, Prim explained, "At the bakery, Peeta decorated the cakes that went into the display window. He turned chocolate and frosting into pictures that looked _real!_ My happiest memories are of Katniss and me standing outside the bakery looking at Peeta's cakes."

"Ooh," Minerva said, her eyes glowing, " _Katniss!_ Please, both of you, tell me _all_ about her. What does she look like? What is she like as a person? Does she know Peeta loves her?"

Peeta, out of the corner of his eye, saw Snow lean forward slightly. Peeta was puzzled by this.

* * *

 **Minutes later**

During the salad course—Peeta had never seen actual tomatoes before, much less thumb-sized tomatoes—he and Prim talked about Katniss. Or rather, Prim talked a lot about Katniss, and Peeta added a few stories here and there—

Such as Katniss singing "The Valley Song" in kindergarten. President Snow was listening, but Peeta did not think that telling this story would hurt Katniss in any way. "...Anyway, the classroom's windows were open, so we all could hear birds chirping outside. Except that while Katniss was singing, I swear all the birds got quiet!"

Minerva nodded, grinning. "When they interviewed her for the Final Eight, they got her to sing. She has an _amazing_ voice."

Prim said, "Daddy was the same way. People have told me that when he sang, even the birds stopped to listen."

Minerva looked confused. "Why the past tense? Did he get a throat disease? In the Capitol, we can fix that."

Prim choked up: "Five years ago, my father—he was..."

Peeta said, "Five years ago, the coal mine exploded, then it collapsed. In the bakery, I felt the explosion through my shoes."

Prim said in a flat voice: "Many miners were killed that day. Even more miners would have died, except Mr. Hawthorne and Daddy rescued other miners before they themselves died. Some kids had _both_ parents die, and those kids went into the Community Home. Katniss and I, our mother was a healer, not a miner, so we got off easy."

Minerva said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. My condolences."

Snow said, "How unfortunate, but such things are a fact of life when mining coal. Accidents happen."

Peeta said, "Prim says that she and Katniss 'got off easy,' but there is easy and then there's _easy_. In the months after Katniss's dad died, Katniss got skinnier and skinnier. For a while, I thought she was going to starve to death—but I was eleven, so what could I do?"

Peeta did not mention now that his eleven-year-old self had found a solution.

Snow stared at Prim and said, "But both you and your sister look well fed now. What changed?"

Peeta knew that the truthful answer was _Katniss started to illegally hunt outside the fence, and she has become superb at it_. What Prim said instead was, "Katniss started finding squirrels, which she traded for other things."

"Like bread," Peeta said.

" 'Finding' squirrels, Miss Everdeen?" Snow said with a raised eyebrow. "I think—"

Minerva asked, "Why would someone trade squirrels for bread? Are squirrels tasty?"

Peeta laughed. "Not hardly!"

"Then why—?"

Snow said, "Miss Everdeen, _how_ does your sister 'find' squirrels?"

Minerva snapped, " _Grandpa!_ I don't care one bit how Katniss finds squirrels. Maybe she sings and they walk up to her. What _I_ want to know, and what nobody will _tell_ me, is _why_ she catches squirrels and why people in District Twelve _buy_ them and cook them."

Silence.

Peeta saw Snow take a breath to speak—

Haymitch said, "Other than Katniss and her squirrels, the only meat for sale in Twelve is in the butcher shop: cow meat, pork, horsemeat, and chicken. This comes from District Ten through the Capitol, and it's _killer_ expensive. I can afford Capitol meat every day because I'm a Victor, and the mayor of Twelve can, but we're the only Twelves who can. With what a miner gets paid, his family can afford butcher meat only on special occasions."

Peeta said, "Actually, merchants in Twelve can afford meat every day, but only in tiny portions—thirty or forty cc's apiece per day."

Minerva asked Peeta, "Is _bread_ also expensive for miners?"

" _Yes_ ," Peeta and Prim said together.

Minerva said, "If _meat_ is expensive, and _bread_ is expensive, what do the miners _eat?_ "

"Tesserae," Prim and Haymitch answered together.

"Which has its own cost," Haymitch added in an ominous voice.

Snow said, " _Enough_ , Minerva, let us return to our earlier discussion. Miss Everdeen, I wish to know in detail how your sister 'finds' squirrels."

Minerva looked at her grandfather. "I don't understand why children can be allowed to starve anywhere in Panem. I don't understand why people in Twelve can't afford basic food except for tesserae, when Twelve supplies coal to make electricity and artificial diamonds. I don't—"

" _Minerva_ ," said Snow. "Enough."

"I've _eaten_ tesserae mush, Grandpa. In third grade. I _still_ remember how _disgusting_ it tasted."

Now the room was silent. Prim said quietly, "You get used to the taste after a while."

Then Prim looked Snow in the eyes and said, "I don't know how my sister finds squirrels; she has never taken me with her."

Peeta suspected that Prim was lying. If so, Peeta admired Prim's courage yet again.

Again, silence fell.

Haymitch broke the silence to say, "One good thing about the food being expensive in Twelve: Nobody eats out his stomach-lining with vomit cola."

Haymitch smirked at Snow. Peeta saw Effie shift uncomfortably in her chair.

Peeta asked, "What is vomit cola? It sounds disgusting." Prim nodded in agreement.

Minerva eyed Haymitch, clearly trying to guess his game. "Grandpa won't let me drink vomit cola till I'm eighteen."

Haymitch looked to his left, to eye Peeta and Prim. "Kids, I'll answer your question later. What vomit cola is, and how it works, is not a suitable subject for this _delicious_ lunch."

Peeta looked at Snow to see his reaction; Peeta was surprised that the president had not spoken once since he had rebuked his granddaughter.

President Snow's face was red, his eyes were wide, and he had both hands over his throat.

"He's choking!" Minerva exclaimed.

* * *

 **An instant later**

Prim was out of her chair so fast, the chair actually fell backward onto the floor. She ran to Snow's chair.

Meanwhile, the bodyguards also were running toward Snow. But Peeta saw two of the bodyguards hit the floor, _hard_ , after being _tripped_ by the silent, red-dressed servants. _What the hell?_ Peeta wondered.

Meanwhile, Prim was standing by Snow's chair, saying, "Stand up! I can help you, but I need you out of that chair!"

Snow quickly looked around the room, then stood up.

Prim slid between Snow and his chair, then wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm going to spin you a quarter-turn. Let me." So saying, Prim sidestepped to her left, which spun Snow a quarter-turn clockwise. Now Snow was facing to Peeta's left.

Prim said, "Now bend down _low_. I need your head _low_."

Snow did not bend.

Haymitch said, "He's not gonna bow, sweetheart. Not even to save his life."

Prim said, "President Snow, do you want broken ribs? The Heimlich maneuver is my only choice if you stay standing."

Snow gave a half-bow, so that his upper body was diagonal.

Prim sighed. "Lower, please?"

Prim waited two seconds. When Snow did not bend down farther, she slapped him on the back, five times. The slaps were loud.

Prim said, "Minerva, Effie, did you see anything come out of his mouth?"

Minerva looked panicky. " _No!_ And now his face is _purple_. Please, _do_ something!"

Prim said in an authoritative voice, "Mr. President, straighten up now. Hurry!"

Snow quickly unbent. His face now was indeed a dark-purple color, Peeta saw. Snow also seemed to be wobbly on his feet.

Prim's right hand felt its way up and down Snow's abdomen, above his belt. Then Prim's right hand balled into a fist. Prim covered her right fist with her left hand—then suddenly she yanked both her hands toward herself.

Snow made a sound like a cough; Peeta saw a thumb-sized tomato fly out of Snow's mouth. Snow took a gasping deep breath.

For fifteen seconds or so, Snow panted; nobody else spoke or moved.

Then Snow said, "Thank you very much, Miss Everdeen; you may return to your seat. Pietus, holster your weapon."

Peeta was shocked to realize that the bodyguard who had frisked Haymitch now was standing to Peeta's left, aiming two-handed a pistol at Prim's head. The bodyguard, without changing expression, holstered his pistol. Then he walked over to Prim's chair, pulled the chair upright, and seated Prim in it.

As Snow sat down in his own chair, his voice got hard. "The Avoxes who tripped my bodyguards, did they think I did not notice? Hefaestus, remove those traitors and use them for 'epsilon training.' "

Hearing this, Effie sucked air through her teeth.

The strange terms meant that Peeta did not understand what was going on. Peeta's confusion grew when he saw one of the two led-away red-dressed servants glare at Snow and flip him the bird.

"What are Avoxes?" Prim asked.

"Later, sweetheart," Haymitch said, his voice tight.

* * *

Snow did not mention squirrels, or the finding of squirrels, during the rest of lunch.

Instead, Snow demanded, "Miss Everdeen, why did you save me?"

Prim looked confused. Peeta was confused too—wasn't the answer obvious? Prim said, "Because you would have died if I didn't."

Snow said, "Many people in the districts would have let me die."

Haymitch drawled, "Some people in the Capitol would have let you die too. Don't blame only district people." Peeta saw Snow glare at Haymitch.

Prim said, "None of those people are healers. Healers heal the sick, period."

* * *

Listening to this conversation, Minerva was amazed. She knew, in a vague way, that district people hated her grandfather. (Minerva was unclear as to the exact reasons why, but she knew that the Hunger Games was a big complaint in the districts.) Yet for all the supposed district-hatred of Grandpa, Minerva had just seen this District Twelve girl save Grandpa, and save him with no hesitation.

Minerva decided that from now on, she would refuse to listen to _any_ unkind word about Primrose Everdeen, no matter who said it.

Not even if it was Grandpa who trash-talked Primrose. After all, Grandpa could be _so_ set in his ways sometimes.

* * *

 **At the end of lunch**

The Twelve team thanked the Snows for lunch.

Haymitch was secretly amused when Minerva grabbed both of Peeta's hands with both of her own hands and said feelingly, "I hope you dating Katniss turns out _wonderfully_."

Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, and Prim were about to be escorted out of the dining room (and out of the Presidential Mansion) when Snow said, "Mr. Abernathy, may I speak with you alone briefly?"

Snow did not seem angry, so Haymitch was not _much_ worried. Haymitch said to Effie, "Y'all go, and I'll meet you just outside."

Effie nodded to Haymitch, gave Snow one of her ditzy escort smiles, then left with the kids.

Three minutes later, Haymitch was in Snow's greenhouse, surrounded by pungent roses. Haymitch realized that whatever the president wanted to say, Snow did not want even his own staff to hear.

Snow looked at Haymitch and said, "Would it surprise you that I do not prostitute every Victor?"

"You prostituted _me_. Or I should say, you _tried_ to whore me. I turned you down flat."

"For which you paid the price. Johanna Mason laughed in my face. She too paid the price. But Beetee Latier and Wiress Plummer of Three, Annie Cresta of Four, Solara Bixby of Five, every Victor of Six, your friend Chaff Mitchell of Eleven, plus some others—none of them were asked. Do you know why?"

Haymitch said, "Chaff thinks it's because he's missing a hand."

"True. I do not prostitute Victors who are unattractive, or crippled, or emotionally damaged."

It took Haymitch less than a second to do the math. "You're sick. Especially after Prim just saved your life!"

Snow said, "Indeed she did. So I have decided to be generous with both your Victors. I will give Miss Everdeen two years, until she is fourteen, before I make use of her for more than mentoring. Mister Mellark will be free of ... other requirements ... for as long as his courtship of Miss Katniss Everdeen progresses."

Seeing Haymitch's reaction, Snow said, "I am sure that Mister Mellark will be disappointed, once he spends time with the object of his childhood infatuation. A year from now, when Mister Mellark returns to the Capitol as mentor, I fully expect him to stumble into a romance _here_." Snow sighed. "With Miss Mason, if nobody else."

Haymitch said, "You have _no_ claim to Peeta and Primrose. Not now, not later. I spent no money on mentor gifts for them, and every PD of sponsor donations has been returned. Neither of my Victors owes anyone anything!"

Snow studied Haymitch. "This is true? You achieved this?"

"Ask Seneca Crane if you don't believe me."

"Mister Crane is no longer with us; but I will ask Plutarch Heavensbee, who is now Head Gamemaker. Very well; presuming you know better than to lie to me, I will give Miss Everdeen and Mister Mellark each a one-year extension beyond what I have just said."

"Five years," Haymitch said.

"Do not push me, Mister Abernathy. One year, and this is final."

"Fine," Haymitch said grudgingly.

A few seconds later, a bodyguard was leading Haymitch to the revolving glass door that was the entrance to/exit from the greenhouse. Just before Haymitch reached the revolving door, Snow called out to him, "I can afford to be patient. Miss Everdeen now is a pretty little girl at twelve; soon she will be a beautiful young woman—who loves her mother and older sister, and even loves her cat and her goat. I fully expect Miss Everdeen to make the right choice when the time comes. Likewise, I expect handsome Mister Mellark to be popular in the Capitol, after his romance with the 'squirrel-finder' collapses, and after you explain to him the costs of refusing me."

* * *

 **That night**

For three hours, Prim and Peeta would have to watch, and would have to comment on, the Games they had just survived. Haymitch had told Prim and Peeta at breakfast that, once he had been pulled out of the arena as Victor, his Games recap was the single most awful thing in the rest of his life; so Peeta was not looking forward to his own recap tonight. Prim did not look eager, either.

When the recap show began and their names were called, Peeta and Prim did not walk out one behind the other, or one beside the other. Instead, they walked out stacked, with Peeta carrying Prim (who was wearing a long dress) on his shoulder. The Capitol audience went nuts.

The recap was as horrible to sit through as Peeta had been warned. During the three-hour recap, Prim held Peeta's hand; and there were many moments during those three hours when Peeta's hand was squeezed _hard_.

After the recap came the crowning. President Snow came out, smiling for the cameras—but his eyes on Peeta and Prim were hard. Behind Snow came Minerva, whose hair was elaborately styled and who was wearing a blue floor-length gown. Minerva was holding a white satin pillow that had the Capitol seal embroidered into the satin with a dark, rich blue thread.

On the pillow lay two crowns, one sized for Peeta's head and one sized for Prim's. Peeta was surprised when he first saw the crowns—normally a Victor crown was four centimeters tall, but these two crowns were each only two centimeters tall.

Prim was crowned first—perhaps because she was Reaped first. After Snow placed the crown on Prim's head, his hand swept the hair off her shoulder. Peeta could not guess why Snow had done this, until he heard Snow say quietly, "What a lovely pin."

The words were polite, but Peeta did not miss the _anger_ in those words.

Prim paused, then replied, "Thank you. It's from my district."

"Yes, I am sure it is," Snow snapped.

As Snow was crowning Peeta, the president said, "Mister Mellark, during the Games I pegged you as decisive. But at the most crucial moment, you let someone else decide. You disappointed me."

* * *

It turned out that Haymitch, who had last been involved in new-Victor rigmarole twenty-four years earlier, was completely wrong about the presidential banquet. The banquet followed the recap and crowning, not the interview; and attendance at the banquet was mandatory for the newly-minted Victors.

The only good thing for Peeta and Prim at the presidential banquet was that Minerva was there. Around Minerva, Peeta felt, and Prim acted, relaxed and comfortable.

But while Minerva's company relaxed Peeta and Prim, the same could _not_ be said for some of the older Capitols at the banquet. These men and women acted _angry_ that Effie Trinket had refunded their sponsor donations in full, and they asked the new Victors _very_ personal questions.

Peeta had been raised by his father not to speak rudely to strangers; Haymitch had no such scruples. At the banquet, Haymitch walked up uncomfortably close to a potbellied fiftyish man in a purple wig who had been pestering both Prim and Peeta; Haymitch said to the pest, "Septicus, I know what you want, and you're just gonna have to wait. For _years_. Turns out, me and President Snow made a deal about Twelve's Co-Victors. So say bye-bye to the kids now, and go find yourself a willing _sheep_."

At the banquet, both Prim and Peeta learned what vomit cola was, and why Capitols drank it at banquets. All three Twelve Victors were disgusted.

* * *

 **The next afternoon, two o'clock Capitol time**

The last thing that new Victors Peeta and Prim were required to do, before they would be allowed to board the train back to District Twelve, was to sit for the Victor Interview with Caesar Flickerman.

Caesar said to Peeta, "Seven seconds after the Gong, you knocked Cato of Two onto his back. Nothing stopped you from smashing his throat with your arm. You could have killed him then, and Cato would have been First to Die. Instead, you left him unharmed, you jumped up, and you ran away. _Why?_ "

Peeta smiled for the cameras. "Caesar, I wasn't ready to kill yet. Cato wasn't threatening me then, and he wasn't threatening Prim, so why kill him?"

Then Caesar asked Peeta, "When the girl from District Seven kicked you in the scrotum"—Peeta winced—"and started to punch you, how did that make you feel?"

Peeta smiled. "Caesar, if you truly don't know what that felt like, you have led a lucky life."

Caesar laughed.

Seconds later, Caesar asked Prim about her encounter with Clove. Prim did not say much about the actual killing of Two's girl-tribute, but Prim did explain why she stepped aside twice: "I knew when I severed her artery, her blood was going to gush out. I'm a girl, Caesar—I didn't want to get lots of blood on my clothes!"

Peeta and Prim had agreed ahead of time to evade answering how they knew the Katniss-mutt was a fake. Now in Caesar's interview, Peeta and Prim each said some version of "I just knew she wasn't Katniss."

Peeta told Caesar that he was not much bothered at killing Marvel; but both Peeta and Prim spoke regret at having to kill Marina. "I would like my daughter to grow up to be like Marina," Prim said.

Caesar's second-to-last question was, "Peeta and Primrose, what are you most proud of in these Games?"

Prim answered, "Proving everyone wrong who said that a nicey-nice twelve-year-old girl from an outer district wouldn't last ten minutes in the Games. Also, at Victor Health Hospital, they let me change someone's bandage!"

Peeta answered, "What am I most proud of? When Windmilla, Rue, Prim, and I cleaned out the Cornucopia. It was fun at the recap last night, when I got to see the Careers' shocked faces when they first discovered the Cornucopia was empty."

Caesar's last question was what Haymitch had warned the kids they would be asked: Why the nightlock berries? Peeta and Prim each answered the question with some version of, "I thought becoming a Victor would be nice, but killing my district partner was 'Nope, no way.' I was totally willing to myself die rather than to let my partner die. After all, we're _friends_ now!"

Peeta wondered how much of his own and Prim's heartfelt words President Snow would believe.

* * *

 **Twenty minutes after the end of the Victors Interview**

Prim and Peeta had washed off their holoprogram makeup and had changed into comfortable clothes. Each Victor's cardboard box that contained what (s)he had brought from the arena, had been taken away to be stored in that Victor's bedroom aboard the train. Peeta and Prim each had hugged the redheaded servant woman goodbye; she had acted surprised.

After this, District Twelve's three Victors and their escort boarded the train. Seconds later, the train began to move toward District Twelve.

Capitol Lake was still beside the train, and the train was still gaining speed, when Peeta started to plan what he would say to Katniss when he returned to Twelve.


	19. Welcome Home, Part 1

In _Mockingjay_ , at the wedding reception of Finnick and Annie, music was provided by a children's choir and by a fiddler who was a District Twelve refugee. I've invented backstory for the fiddler.

 **Chapter 19**  
 **Welcome Home, Part 1**

 **After the broadcasted Victors Interview  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

As soon as the interview ended, hammering resumed. With lumber "generously" donated by the Capitol, a stage was being constructed in the middle of the Square. On that stage, tomorrow, would stand or sit various dignitaries—including Twelve's newest Victors, Prim and Peeta!

Katniss was _bursting_ with excitement to see Prim again. Of course when Katniss saw her sister again, she would also see Peeta again—the Boy with the Bread. Katniss still did not know how she felt about Peeta.

Meanwhile, from the Slag Heap, Katniss heard the sounds of a banjo player and a fiddle player practicing together. Mr. Donner (owner of the candy store) and Stivvin Porter (a miner) would be performing at the welcome-home party in the Square. Stivvin could play his fiddle tomorrow because the Capitol Liaison had "generously" decreed that all the miners would be given one-and-a-half days off with pay. (Yet no mention was made of monthly coal quotas being adjusted downward. _Typical_ , Katniss thought.)

Katniss's thoughts were interrupted when Mayor Undersee stepped in front of her. "Katniss, I have a request of you."

* * *

 **Meanwhile in the dining room  
** **The District Twelve-bound tribute train**

Peeta and Prim were sitting at the dining table, sipping hot chocolate. Peeta was thinking about Katniss and what he would say to her when he got the chance.

Prim was staring out one of the tiny windows on the two sides of the dining car, while she wore a thoughtful expression.

Haymitch and Effie were sitting next to each other on a couch that was far away from the dining table. Peeta was amazed to notice that not only were Haymitch and Effie talking so quietly that Peeta could not hear them—Peeta had never suspected that Effie could _do_ "quietly"—Haymitch was drinking nonalcoholic fruit juice. _But hey, the train left the station only five minutes ago—don't get too hopeful about Haymitch, Mellark!_

Prim suddenly stood up. "I want to see the scenery without any windows blocking my way." Prim jerked a thumb to mean both the door at the rear of the dining room and the train platform beyond that door. Peeta had thrown one of Haymitch's booze bottles onto the tracks from that same platform. "Care to join me?" Prim now asked Peeta.

"Sure."

Prim walked toward the red emergency telephone that was mounted on a side wall. Prim called over her shoulder, "I'm going to call Head Peacekeeper Baxter now, so he doesn't freak out when the door-open alarm goes off a lot."

Haymitch looked up from his conversation with Effie. "What are you planning, sweetheart?"

Prim said, "Peeta and I are going to stand on that platform back there and watch the scenery roll away." With one hand on the red telephone, Prim added, "I don't want Head Peacekeeper Baxter to worry we're jumping off the train."

Haymitch said, "Nobody is worried about _that_ , Primrose. But this train is now moving 400 km/h—Baxter's gonna worry that you might be sucked off that platform by air turbulence. How about I go outside with you, and we three come inside if I say it's dangerous?"

Prim hesitated.

Peeta said, "Prim, I really don't want to die _now_. We could have worse babysitters."

" _Thanks_ , boy," Haymitch said sarcastically.

Prim nodded, persuaded. "Okay, I'll tell Baxter." She picked up the red telephone handset.

A minute later, Prim hung up the handset, smiling. "He thanked me for letting him know ahead of time, and thanked Haymitch for volunteering to watch us. He also congratulated us for winning the Games _together_. Sheesh, why can't Cray be like Baxter?"

As Haymitch was walking toward the rear door, he answered, "Because being Head Peacekeeper on a tribute train is a cushy gig, so Baxter is probably the best of the best among Peacekeepers; while it's obvious Cray is a fuckup, and where do fuckup Head Peacekeepers get sent?"

Prim opened the rear door of the dining room; an alarm blasted Peeta's ears. Haymitch, then Prim, then Peeta stepped out onto the tribute train's rear platform. Peeta's ears thanked him when he shut the door.

Just as Haymitch had predicted, the train platform was windy.

* * *

 **Meanwhile in the Square, District Twelve**

Mayor Undersee said to Katniss, "During the party tomorrow night, I want you to sing some songs on the stage with Robbirt and Stivvin."

"Forget it. My sister is _coming home_ , after surviving the _Hunger Games_ , and you want to stick me up on that stage all night?"

"Not 'all night.' Just sing five songs with them. A banjo, a fiddle, and a lead singer—let Panem know what good District Twelve music sounds like."

"That isn't what I've planned for tomorrow."

"C'mon, 'the fans of Katniss' just won the Hunger Games. So not only is all of Panem curious about Peeta and Prim, they're curious about _you_."

"No way. And may I say that 'the fans of Katniss' is a _stupid_ name for Prim and Peeta."

"Mrs. Pendleton at the high school"—the music teacher—"says you're the best singer in Twelve. I'll bet Prim would love to see the best singer in Twelve get her own moment in the spotlight."

"Fine. Two songs, not five."

"Four songs. You're a better singer than Robbirt and Stivvin are instrumentalists, and all of Panem wants to hear you sing."

"Three songs. One of which is 'Deep in the Meadow'—deal with it."

"Agreed. Robbirt and Stivvin know a toe-tapping version of 'The Miner and the Mine-Girl'—can you sing that song fast?"

Katniss shrugged. "With practice, sure."

"That just leaves the third song. How about—?"

Katniss said, "I know the _perfect_ song for the Capitol to film me singing—"

 _Are you, are you  
_ _Coming to the tree—_

" _No!_ " yelled Mayor Undersee. " _Any_ song but that! How about you head over to the Slag Heap and work something out with Robbirt and Stivvin?"

Katniss shot the mayor a dirty look. "The first time I go to the Slag Heap, you want me there with _two men?_ "

* * *

 **Meanwhile on the rear train platform  
** **The District Twelve-bound tribute train**

Peeta had not noticed before, but a braced, curved wall on each side of the platform blocked out _most_ of the wind. Still, the middle of the rear platform was windy, and there was a constant roaring sound. To be heard at all by the other two people there, Peeta had to yell.

But at the moment, it was Haymitch yelling: "I need to know how each of you knew that Mutt-Katniss was a fake."

Peeta said, "You _need_ to know? Why do you _need_ to know?"

Haymitch waved the questions aside. "Just take my word, boy, I need to know. Now answer my question, both of you."

Peeta said, "She said most words in a District Twelve accent; but she said _Peeta_ , _Prim_ , and _over_ like a Capitol would: _Payta_ , _Prïm_ , and _ovah_."

Prim said, "My sister has all sorts of scars on her left hand, because she's left-handed. Some of her scars are from thorns, some are from wild animals, some are cat-scratches from Buttercup. When I left for the Reaping and Katniss was sick, she had a deep, pus-oozing cut on her left palm. The girl in the orange jumpsuit had raggedy eyebrows like my sister—sorry, Peeta, but I'm not letting Katniss date you till after I tweeze her eyebrows—but when she handed me her pistol, I saw that her left hand looked like she'd spent a month in the Remake Center. No cuts, no scars, unmarked skin everywhere on her hand. I was already a little suspicious of her story anyway, so this just sealed the deal."

Peeta said, "So this is why you, instead of handing her gun back to her, handed the gun to me."

Prim nodded. "Yes, after I made sure the gun had real bullets in it."

Then Prim grinned. "Plus I wasn't lying, I really did want, just once in my life, to fire a gun. I think Head Peacekeeper Baxter likes me, but I don't think even he would let me shoot his gun."

Peeta said, "Your turn, Haymitch. Why do you _need_ to know about how we spotted Mutt-Katniss as a mutt?"

"Figure it out, boy—a mutt that _looks_ like a real person and _sounds_ like a real person? Imagine what _shit_ the Capitol could cause with something like this, if they could get the mutt to fool people."

Prim nodded. "This would make the Games even nastier than they already are."

Peeta looked at Haymitch in horror. "Or are you talking about something bigger than the Games?" _Another rebellion_ , Peeta meant.

Haymitch did not answer Peeta's question. Five minutes later, without a word, Haymitch went back inside.

* * *

 **Meanwhile in the Square, District Twelve**

As soon as Mayor Undersee walked away, Madge and Gale walked up to Katniss. "What did Dad want with you?" Madge asked.

Katniss shrugged. "He wanted me to sing songs at the party here tomorrow."

"And you told him to get lost, _right?_ " Gale said, grinning.

"No, I agreed to three songs."

Gale's eyebrows shot up. Madge said, " _Whoa_ , how did _this_ happen?"

Katniss shrugged. "The mayor told me that Prim would want me to get my own moment of glory. So now I'm headed to the Slag Heap to start practicing." Katniss saw Gale's grin get bigger. "Don't say _one word_ about the Slag Heap, Hawthorne!"

Madge cleared her throat. Gale's smile disappeared. Katniss wondered what was going on.

Gale said, now very serious, "Catnip, I need to talk to you."

Madge said, "Gale, I'll be watching them build the stage." She walked away, her shoulders stiff.

Gale watched Madge leave, then turned his head back to Katniss. "Whatever else happens tomorrow, Mellark _will_ ask you out on a date. No fucking way is he gonna wait any longer for _that_. If you say yes—I hope you have fun. Really, I mean this. You might tell him no, because the thought of dating _anybody_ gives you the heebie-jeebies—"

"Heebie-jeebies _for sure_. If I date somebody long enough and he likes me, he'll want me to marry him. And marriage means _kids_ —kids who can be _Reaped_ , like Prim was!"

"You have a third choice, Catnip. This is the last time I'll ever ask this, I swear, but I _need_ to ask now. Your third choice, when Mellark asks you out tomorrow, is to say, 'Sorry, I'm dating Gale.' "

"Wow, Gale, no wonder Madge is pissed. Can you do or say anything _more_ to let _my friend_ Madge know that she's your _second_ choice?"

"Newsflash, Catnip: Compared to you, _Cashmere_ is a second choice. Anyway, what do you say?"

"I say that I expect to die as an old-maid coal miner-slash-archer, and I don't expect either you or Peeta to change my mind. I say that I really hope, after I tell you this, that you and I can _stay_ friends, because to me, this is what we are _now_ , Gale: _friends_. Now beat it, go fix Madge's hurt feelings."

As Katniss watched Gale walk away toward the stage, Katniss resolved again to never _ever_ get married.

* * *

 **A half-hour later  
Behind the Slag Heap**

Robbirt Donner, Stivvin Porter, and Katniss were rehearsing the pre-Catastrophes song "I'm Ridin' The Train to Lonesomeville" when three other people appeared behind the Slag Heap: Katniss's mother Aloe, and the Tyndales who owned the apothecary store. Robbirt, even as he was playing his banjo at a frenzied speed, gave a friendly smile to the new arrivals.

 _Of course he would be friendly to them_ , Katniss thought. _They're all Merchants_.

But even as Katniss grumped in her head, she could not miss that her mother was _glowing_ with joy. In contrast, the Tyndales looked nervous.

When the song ended, Robbirt said, "Hello, Moss; hello, Beana. How long has it been since either of you has been to the Slag Heap?"

Mr. Tyndale stared. Mrs. Tyndale blushed and said, "Since before anyone here was born."

Robbirt said, "Moss and Beana, may I present Katniss Everdeen? She's the sister of one of our new co-Victors, and a _damned_ fine singer in her own right. Katniss, these are your mother's parents, Moss and Beana Tyndale, whom _I'm told_ "—now he was looking at the Tyndales disapprovingly—"you have never met before."

Beana Tyndale looked at the ground and said, "We spoke briefly once, a few days ago."

Aloe said, "Katniss, my parents want to be part of our family. They want to be your grandparents, yours and Prim's." Aloe tactfully did not mention that the Tyndales would be Katniss's _only_ grandparents; Granny Everdeen had already died when black lung killed Grandpa Everdeen, all before Prim was born.

Katniss snapped, " _Of course_ they want to be part of our family, _now_. Prim is about to be rich!"

" _No_ ," Mr. Tyndale said. "We're doing well, we don't need a Victor granddaughter's money."

Katniss looked questioningly at Robbirt, who nodded.

Mrs. Tyndale said to Katniss, "Twenty years ago, all Moss and I could see was that Cake Mellark was Merchant, while Pick Everdeen was Seam. But now, you and Primrose are strong and brave girls—strong and brave like your father. Whereas Cake Mellark has proven himself to be a coward, and Peeta Mellark's brothers are weaklings. Moss and I were _so blind_ with pride, and _so wrong!_ "

Stivvin, who had not spoken since Katniss's mother and the Tyndales had arrived, now said, "My Uncle Timm is alive only because Pick Everdeen carried him to the end of the tunnel so he could be rescued. Pick Everdeen was a hero that day to a lot of miners."

Katniss yelled, "Parents of my mother, _you let Prim and I starve!_ "

Mister Tyndale looked Katniss in the eyes. "We did, and we have no excuse. But I hope that before Beana and I die, you can forgive us."

Aloe said quietly, " _Please_ , Katniss. Let them be a part of our lives."

"Fine," Katniss said. She walked over to the Tyndales, and briefly shook each outstretched hand. "Pleased to meet you," Katniss recited.

"May we hug you?" Mrs. Tyndale asked.

Katniss let herself be hugged twice.

Fifteen minutes later, Aloe Everdeen and Katniss's brand-new grandparents dragged Katniss to the clothing store. Apparently Merchants believed that every female who was related to Prim was _required_ to be wearing brand-new clothes when the train would arrive tomorrow.

It was explained to Katniss that it was not "accepting charity" when _family_ spent money on you.

* * *

 **Later  
** **At Undersee's Clothing Store**

"Mrs. Everdeen and Katniss, good to see you again," the young woman said.

It took Katniss a moment to place the face, since the young woman did not look especially Capitol-y. Katniss said, "You're Urbania, the receptionist at the mine-company clinic."

When Urbania nodded, Katniss made introductions between Urbania and the Tyndales.

Urbania said, "Mrs. Everdeen, Katniss, I'm truly glad that Primrose is coming home to you. Congratulations."

Katniss said to the Tyndales, "I _told_ you she was nice."

Urbania grinned evilly. "Not when I'm sharing _juicy_ gossip. Remember Nurse Wilson?"

"The purple-skinned woman who thinks all District Twelve miners are monkeys?"

"Exactly. She bet three hundred PDs on a losing tribute. It wasn't all her money, so she had to borrow to make the bet, and now she can't cover it."

Mister Tyndale said, "I expect almost every Capitol who bet, bet on a losing tribute."

Urbania grinned. "But Antonia wanted to show 'sisterhood is powerful,' so she bet on _Clove_ to win! Oh, you should have heard Antonia cursing when Primrose _exsanguinated_ Clove!"

Both Katniss and Aloe grinned, hearing this.

* * *

 **On the District Twelve-bound tribute train**

Peeta and Prim spent several hours on the train platform in companionable near-silence. The two Co-Victors spoke only occasionally as they watched the scenery on either side of the tracks zoom away.

The sun had just set—almost directly behind the train—when Peeta and Prim decided to go inside.

Walking into the dining room, the new Victors surprised Haymitch and Effie on the couch. The mentor and the escort quickly moved apart, looking flustered. Peeta noticed that Effie's silver lipstick was on (and around) Haymitch's mouth.

* * *

 **The next morning, three hours before the train's arrival in District Twelve  
** **The rear platform of the tribute train**

Nobody who could have told Peeta no—Head Peacekeeper Baxter, Haymitch Abernathy, or Effie Trinket—had objected when Peeta had announced that he again wanted to watch the scenery from the rear platform. Instead, both Haymitch and Effie had quickly agreed, which had led Peeta to believe that the mentor and the escort were planning another heavy make-out session while the two new Victors were playing tourist.

Now the door-open alarm was screaming; Peeta silenced the alarm by shutting the door—with both himself and Prim outside the door.

Looking behind the train to the railroad tracks, Peeta saw that for ten meters, the railroad track was darkened by the shadow of the dining car itself; the time was a little after 9 a.m. The ground to the left and right of the railroad tracks was hillier that at sunset yesterday.

But just like at sunset yesterday (and indeed, like earlier yesterday afternoon), the train platform was windy, and the open gap in the rear middle of the train platform made a constant roar.

Which was good. Peeta was sure that the constant roar would thwart any hidden listening devices.

Peeta yelled to Prim over the roaring, "I think another rebellion against the Capitol is being planned. And I think Haymitch is part of it."

Prim stared at Peeta. "Why do you say that?"

"Because Haymitch wanted so strongly to know how to beat another Mutt-Katniss. I think that _Haymitch_ thinks that perfect-double mutts will be used by the Capitol during the next war—which means Haymitch plans to _fight_ the next war. And the Capitol is planning to fight too."

"Huh," Prim said.

The Co-Victors stared at the rushing-away scenery for five more minutes. Then Prim said, "If there _is_ a modern-day rebellion being planned and Haymitch is part of it, I think Chaff, Johanna, Beetee, and Wiress are part of it too."

After a pause for thought, Peeta said, "That makes sense. If they are part of a secret planned rebellion, I wonder how long it will be before one of them tries to recruit you and me? After all, now _we_ are Victors too."

Prim said, "I'd sign up this instant, if there were some way to keep Mother, Katniss, and Buttercup out of danger."

Peeta stared at the railroad tracks with clenched fists. "All the times my mother beat me? Most of the time, my father and my brothers _let_ her beat me. I don't love my family the way you do. If there's a rebellion and the only thing stopping me from fighting for it is 'Snow will bomb the bakery,' then Snow probably should watch his ass."

Prim said, "But what if Snow told you, 'If you join the Rebellion, I will kill Katniss'?"

" _Shit_ ," Peeta said. He gave Prim no other reply.

* * *

 **Around noon**

The tribute train arrived at the District Twelve train station. The _instant_ that the train stopped, three Victors and their escort stepped off the train.


	20. Welcome Home, Part 2

**Chapter 20**  
 **Welcome Home, Part 2**

 **At the District Twelve train-station platform**

Peeta and Prim stepped onto the platform, each with a hand on the other's shoulder. The yelling from the District Twelve crowd was _deafening_.

Most of District Twelve was behind barricades; but on the Victors' side of the barricades were the Mellark family and the Everdeen family. Peeta noticed that the two families, though they had gone through the same awful experience, were standing far from each other.

Peeta hugged his father and brothers; Cake Mellark was crying tears of joy to see his son again. Peeta's family members each said to him trite versions of _I'm glad you're alive;_ nobody said anything deeply personal to Peeta. When Peeta hugged his mother Medea, she kissed his cheek—probably because she knew she was being filmed.

" _Hey, Peeta_ ," Prim yelled from her part of the train-station platform. " _Come over here. I've got someone for you to talk to_." The crowd yelled again, then burst into applause. When Peeta looked, he saw that Prim was holding Katniss's hand.

Peeta was still hugging his mother. Medea said, "You can wait to talk to that Seam slut later."

Had it been Peeta's father who had asked Peeta to stay with the Mellark family, Peeta would have stayed. But to his mother, Peeta said, "I _can_ wait, but I _won't_."

Peeta walked toward Prim, Katniss, and Mrs. Everdeen. With every step, Peeta's excitement grew, because Peeta had fantasized about speaking to Katniss _for years_.

Mrs. Everdeen and Prim were smiling encouragingly at Peeta, while Katniss—Katniss the brave, Katniss the fearless— _she_ looked like she wanted to hide under the dining car of the tribute train.

Peeta noticed that Katniss and her mother both were wearing expensive new clothes at the train station. Peeta figured that Mattyu Undersee, the clothing-store owner, now had several wild turkeys in his freezer.

As soon as Peeta came close to Katniss, the crowd at the train-station platform silenced completely. So Peeta did not need to yell when he said, "Katniss, I'm so glad and relieved that you're healed of your injuries."

"Uh, yeah, me too," Katniss said.

" _Lame_ , big sister," Prim said, grinning.

" _Shut it_ , Little Duck," Katniss said, blushing.

Peeta said to Katniss, "I have a thousand things I want to say to you, but this is not the time or the place. May I talk to you later, after the hoopla has died down?"

"Yes," Katniss said. "I more than owe you that."

"Oh, Katniss," Mrs. Everdeen and Prim said together, both sounding disappointed.

* * *

 **One second later**

"Oh, how _precious!_ I think that's Katniss Everdeen he's talking to!" The woman's Capitol accent was as thick as rancid honey.

Peeta looked over at where the voice was coming from. Now he noticed that a second line of barricades, at right angles to the main barricades, created a narrow walkway from the train at the far end of the train-station platform. But while Peacekeepers were spread out along the main barricades to keep District Twelve people from breaching those barricades, no Peacekeepers manned the side barricades. One of those side barricades had been pushed aside. A Capitol woman—she wore a glittery purple, pink, and green dress, and an eyeball-stomping pink wig—was walking toward the Everdeens and Peeta; other Capitols were following Glitter-Dress into the breach.

The District Twelve crowd muttered angrily, even as Peeta saw Effie move to intercept the trespassers.

But _everyone_ was surprised by what happened next—

Katniss, who had been tongue-tied only a moment earlier, turned and strode toward Glitter-Dress. Peeta noted that while Katniss's walk was forceful and quick, it was also silent.

" _What_ do you think you're doing?" Katniss demanded of Glitter-Dress and the other Capitols. "Get back over there!" Katniss pointed to the breached barricade.

Glitter-Dress puffed up. "Listen, girl, you might be the famous Katniss, but you can't talk to me like this!"

Katniss stepped forward, invading Glitter-Dress's space. "Peeta and I were having a _personal_ conversation, and you being a _rainbow_ "—Capitol person—"doesn't give you the right to walk up and listen in."

Katniss pointed toward the breached barricade again. " _Go!_ "

The other Capitols turned and fled toward the barricade, but Glitter-Dress was made of sterner stuff; she stood where she was, hands on hips.

By now, Effie was standing a meter away. She said to Glitter-Dress, "Miss Riddle, you are acting rude. Go back."

Katniss said, "Yeah, you have worse manners that my sister's stupid cat, and _he_ spits up hairballs."

Glitter-Dress said, "Listen, Katniss _dear_ , I'm missing paying gigs to sing in this dirty, dusty district's District Holiday, so I'm entitled to get myself a story I can sell to 'Victors Tonight.' "

Peeta looked around, noticing several holocameras filming the encounter. He thought, _Glitter-Dress will be on "Victors Tonight" tonight, but maybe not the way she wants_.

Meanwhile, Katniss was saying, "You're a singer? A _professional_ singer?"

Glitter-Dress looked at Effie. "Tell this coal-grubber who I am."

Effie said to Katniss, "She's Hermione Riddle. In the Capitol, she's famous."

Glitter-Dress sneered, "But apparently I'm _not_ famous to someone who doesn't own a holoprojector."

Katniss said to Glitter-Dress, "So you are a famous professional singer from the Capitol, huh? Then you won't mind a _sing-off_ with a coal-grubber girl from District Twelve, _hm?_ The 'Anthem of Panem'—I sing the first verse, then you sing the first verse, then the Capitol Liaison and Dr. Josephus Picardo—he's the mine-company doctor—decide who's the better singer. Both judges are Capitols, so I'm _almost_ giving you the win."

Glitter-Dress's voice was condescending: "But if these two judges vote differently, how do we break the tie? I want a third judge: the Head Peacekeeper here."

"Um...," said Katniss. Peeta did not blame Katniss for hesitating; Cray could not be trusted to vote fairly.

A male voice said, "I'm the Head Peacekeeper for District Twelve now, and I accept." Head Peacekeeper Baxter was walking from the pushed-aside barricade toward Katniss and Glitter-Dress. He continued, "In the meantime, Miss Riddle, get back behind the barricade. _Now!_ "

Glitter-Dress said to Baxter, "Okay, fine, I'm leaving."

Then Glitter-Dress turned back to Katniss. " _It's on_ , child. You're going down."

"We'll see," Katniss replied.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Katniss walked back to where her mother, sister, and Peeta were waiting.

Peeta smiled at her. "Just one more reason why Prim and I are both 'fans of Katniss.' "

Katniss looked at Peeta and opened her mouth to speak. But then Katniss, blushing, closed her mouth and turned to look at Prim.

"So, Prim, why did you decide before the Tribute Parade to change your hair to look like mine?"

* * *

 **Soon afterward**

Domiducus Jones, the Capitol Liaison, grabbed Peeta and Prim and stuffed them into his "limousine" (super-fancy car). Peeta and Prim, Haymitch, and Effie all were to be driven to the Capitol Liaison Office so that Peeta and Prim could each get their respective stipend accounts set up, and so they could each be assigned a house in Victors' Village.

But after everyone climbed into the limousine, Peeta had a small request—

"Driver, instead of driving all of us to the CLO, could you drive us to the back of the Justice Building?"

Haymitch laughed. "Boy, you got style!" Then Haymitch said to Jones (who was looking annoyed), "It's nothing bad. Let him do it."

The drive was short; soon the limousine stopped at the back of the Justice Building. Everyone except for the driver got out of the limousine. Peeta walked to the rear doors, opened them, and said, "Follow me."

Jones said, "But we're not going to the Justice Building, we're going to the CLO."

Haymitch said, "Mister Jones, Peeta here robbed the Careers down to bare floor, yeah? He's smart; trust him."

When all five people were just inside the rear doors and were standing in the front-to-back hallway of the Justice Building, Peeta said, "Again, follow me." Peeta walked to the front doors, opened them, and walked out of the building.

Peeta waited for the others to join him—just outside the Justice Building, on its front steps. When everyone stood on the front steps, Peeta looked back over his shoulder, then he walked down those steps till he was standing in the Square.

When the others also were standing in the Square, Peeta said, "Okay, from here we can walk to the CLO. It's a short walk."

Domiducus Jones grumped, "Then why didn't we go there directly? Why this roundabout trip?"

Effie said gently, "Domiducus, the route we took just now—the train station, the back of the Justice Building, the front of the Justice Building, the Square—it's the route that all District Twelve tributes take, _reversed_."

* * *

 **Soon afterward  
** **In the Capitol Liaison Office**

For Peeta and Prim, the hardest part of setting up their Victor-stipend accounts was understanding the idea of a password. After Peeta invented an acceptable password (ILuvKE74), Mister Jones typed on a keyboard, then money was electronically transferred into Peeta's stipend account.

Peeta _stared_ when he saw his new balance. "This is how much money I get in a year for surviving the Hunger Games?"

Jones smiled. "No, this is how much you get in a _month_ for being a Victor. One month from now, you'll get this many PDs added to whatever your balance is."

" _Whoa_ ," Prim said.

" 'Bathed in riches,' no kidding," Peeta said.

Then came the question of where the two newest Victors would live. While in theory eleven houses in Victors' Village were vacant, only two houses had been certified as habitable after Peeta and Prim had won their Games. The only question was, Who got which house? Peeta borrowed a ten-PD coin from Jones; Peeta flipped the coin, Prim called it, and thus it was decided that Prim would move into the house next to Haymitch, and Peeta would move into the house across the green from Prim's house.

This was the fun part. The not-fun part was when Prim and Peeta had to listen to a list of silly rules about what they were allowed, and not allowed, to do in "their" houses. Prim looked unhappy when she was told that, while _she_ was given her house for as long as she lived, her mother and Katniss were only tolerated guests, and would be sent back to the Seam as soon as Prim was buried in the ground.

Eventually, Jones looked up from the list of rules he was reading. He asked, "Any questions?"

Prim asked, "Do I get to keep my cat?"

* * *

 **A little later**

Peeta and Prim had ridden in an elevator with Jones up to the second floor of the Capitol Liaison Building. Jones was saying, "...offices of Capitol Coal, the Capitol Store, and the Capitol Employees Medical Clinic. As Victors, you are now allowed to use the store and the upstairs medical clinic."

"May we see the store?" Peeta asked.

So far as Peeta could tell, the Capitol Store had every kind of cosmetic, hair dye, and skin dye imaginable, plus lots of colored clothing, colored wigs, and Capitol-oriented magazines.

Near the cashier's station, a magazine display proclaimed, "Get your special edition now—'First time ever, TWO VICTORS!' "

Jones said, "This store also carries food and snacks that you can't find in District Twelve, or can't buy cheaply—unfortunately, all the food sold here is canned, vacuum-sealed, or frozen, not fresh."

Peeta frowned when he saw that canned apples sold at the Capitol Store were a third of the price that Mellark Bakery had to pay.

When they walked out of the Capitol Store, Prim asked, "May we see the Capitol Coal Medical Clinic?"

Jones looked confused. "Why do you want to go _there?_ As Victors, you're allowed to use the much better Capitol Employees Medical Clinic upstairs. And if _they_ can't help you, they can summon a medical hovercraft to rush you to Victor Health Hospital."

Prim said, "Don't knock the downstairs clinic. Dr. Picardo saved my sister Katniss's life, and I want to thank him."

* * *

 **A minute later  
** **Capitol Coal Medical Clinic  
** **First floor, Capitol Liaison Building**

Prim and Peeta (and Jones) walked into the clinic for miners. Seconds later, Dr. Picardo and Urbania the receptionist were welcoming the new Victors, but the lavender-skinned nurse stormed out of the waiting room.

When Prim and Peeta looked puzzled, the doctor explained, "She bet on Clove. She borrowed 237 PDs from Peacekeepers to make her bet. The Peacekeepers are demanding their money back."

A minute later, Prim was saying, "Dr. Picardo, I really do mean it when I tell you, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving Katniss's life.' But, um"—now Prim was blushing furiously—"I have another reason for talking to you."

Dr. Picardo looked surprised. "You need treatment? Hasn't Mister Jones told you about the clinic upstairs?"

"No, it's not that, it's—Have you ever heard of a singer named Hermione Riddle?"

Urbania said, "I have five of her albums! And she's going to be performing _here_ tonight!" Then Urbania looked sad. "Too bad that Capitols are 'very strongly discouraged' from attending a District Holiday after a Victor comes home."

Prim sighed. "Sheesh, this just makes things harder. Katniss will be in a sing-off tonight with Hermione Riddle, and Katniss sorta-kinda volunteered _you_ , Dr. Picardo, to be one of the judges. _Ahem_ , you too, Mr. Jones."

After Urbania all but begged Dr. Picardo to be one of the judges for the sing-off, he agreed. After Dr. Picardo agreed to be a judge, the Capitol Liaison also agreed, though he looked annoyed.

Jones asked, "Is there anything else you two need for me to show you, or you need to ask me?"

Peeta said, "No, I guess it's time for Prim and me to move into our new houses."

* * *

 **An hour later**

In the Seam, Prim's neighbors helped her to move away from there. They said, "Victors' Village is the place you oughta be," so the Everdeens loaded up borrowed wheelbarrows and they moved to the Village. Victors' Village, that is. Home of empty houses, and a surly drunk.

It was Katniss who walked Lady the goat to the new house; Lady was leashed with a rope. Buttercup made the trip, every meter of it, carried in Prim's arms.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, above Mellark's Bakery**

In the apartment above Mellark's Bakery, things were more complicated. The song "Capitol Party Party" was mentioned—loudly.

Medea Mellark was yelling at her youngest son, "You said, quote, 'It's an old song that Mother sometimes dances to. Mother likes lots of Capitol dance songs.' You said this _deliberately!_ You _humiliated_ me in front of the entire district!"

Peeta calmly replied, " 'Deliberately'? No. Do you think that when I was in deadly danger of Careers coming back and slaughtering all four of us in the Cornucopia, I was giving _you_ any thought?"

"Then you're thoughtless! Inconsiderate!"

Peeta calmly looked at his father. "Comments, Dad?"

Cake Mellark said, "I think your mother is getting overexcited. But Peeta, someone wrote 'Capitol lover' in coal dust all over the windows and the side brick, which would not have happened if you had not said what you said."

" _Mm_ ," Peeta said. Calmly he asked, "Cutter, Yeast, any comments?"

Peeta's oldest brother Cutter said, "The coal dust on the windows was easy to wash off; the coal dust on the bricks was harder. The hardest part was washing my hands _thoroughly_ afterward—nobody wants coal dust in their baked goods."

Peeta said calmly, "I revealed Mother's shameful secret. Each of you, in your way, has said I've done something bad. But nobody has pointed out that _if Mother hadn't bought all those Capitol dance songs twenty-odd years ago, she wouldn't have a shameful secret that might one day be exposed_."

Medea said, "That's not the point! _Family_ secrets stay in the _family!_ It's not your place to tell outsiders."

Peeta finally let his voice show anger: "And before I was Reaped, I followed this rule. When you gave me a black eye, Mother, I told my teacher I'd run into a door. Other times, other bruises, I said, 'I fell down the stairs.' When you cracked that bone in my arm, I told everyone that I'd hit my arm on the edge of the table. But by then, _nobody_ believed me. You think your _child abuse_ stayed a secret? It didn't. I didn't tell, but everyone figured it out."

" 'Child abuse'? I beat you only when you deserved it."

Peeta looked into the eyes of the four other members of his family. "One of the rules of my house in Victors' Village is that family may live there only when I list you on a form. You live in my house by invitation only. Three of you are invited."

" _Three_ , not _four?_ " Dad asked.

"I've decided that I don't want to worry about _accidentally killing_ my mother—which might happen after Mother decided I 'deserve' another beating. So Mother, you are _dis_ invited."

Medea glared. "I don't want to live there anyway, if that tramp Aloe and her Seam-trash daughters are living there."

Peeta said, "Dad, Cutter, Yeast, you three have a choice to make: to live with _Mother_ or to live with _me_. Talk it over; I'll be outside by the cakes display."

About fifteen minutes later, Peeta's father walked out of the bakery. Cake Mellark told Peeta that nobody would be joining Peeta in his big house in Victors' Village. Cake Mellark had explanations; he had excuses.

Peeta did not argue; instead, he went upstairs to the apartment and gathered his clothes and belongings in a bedsheet. Peeta hugged his father and his brothers goodbye; but he also told each of them, "One day you will regret your decision." Then Peeta walked out of the apartment and out of the bakery; he did not look back.

* * *

 **Soon afterward  
** **Victors' Village**

Prim and Peeta each discovered, after they had unlocked the front door of their new house for the first time, that the cardboard box that held their respective arena-spoils was waiting just inside the door.

Within ten minutes, Prim presented her throwing-knife to her mother. "Feel how sharp the edges are, Mother. It'll make a great scalpel."

Aloe said, "There is blood on the blade."

Prim looked; indeed, she saw blood. Prim took a deep breath, let it out, then took another deep breath. "The blood is Marina's. Maybe with blood from Clove added in. Give it here, I'll wash it off."

Right after Prim washed off the knife ( _very_ thoroughly), she presented Katniss with her two half-arrows. "Originally I had three," Prim reminded her sister, "but I used the third half-arrow to kill the mutt-version of you."

Katniss smiled. "And I cheered when you did. Thank you for these two nice arrowheads. Although..."

Prim repeated, "Although?"

Katniss said, "See these barbs on the arrowheads? They're designed for hunting _tributes_. These arrowheads injure the victim when the arrow goes in, and they injure the victim more when you try to pull the arrow out. With hunting arrows, you want the arrow to come out easily."

* * *

About that time, Effie Trinket rang the doorbell and told Prim to shower and change clothes, because she and Peeta were expected in the Square for the District Holiday "soon."

Prim replied, "Change into _what_ clothes? My Seam clothes? My tribute uniform? _No way_ will I ever wear it _here_."

Effie said, "Primrose, in your bedroom, your closet is bulging with clothes in your size."

Prim grinned. "Wonderful!"

Effie said, "Mister Jones has offered his limousine to drive you to the Square, when you and Peeta are dressed and ready."

Prim remembered what Chaff had said, "If the people of your district decide you're a Capitol-lover, when you return to your district, district people will shun you." District Twelve people would _not_ approve of their Victors riding in limousines.

So now Prim said, "Would you thank Mister Jones for me, please Effie? But it's a nice warm day, so I think Peeta and Katniss and I will _walk_ from the Village."

After Effie left for Haymitch's house and Prim shut her front door, the first thing Prim saw when she turned around was Katniss shooting her a _I know what you're trying to pull_ look.

* * *

 **A half-hour later**

Prim was surprised and pleased to discover that not only was _she_ wearing brand-new clothes for the District Holiday, but so were Katniss and Mother.

Prim was floored when beaming Aloe explained _why_ the new clothes: "The Tyndales—I mean, _my parents_ —want the three of us back in their lives. Mrs. Tyn— _Mother_ —bought clothes for Katniss and me."

Katniss muttered, "Yeah, _right_ when you come into money, Prim, they want to be in our lives, after _ignoring_ Mother and us for seventeen years."

Aloe sighed. "Katniss, the very first thing my mother said to me yesterday—after she congratulated me on Prim winning the Games—was 'Prim won the Games _because_ she is Pick Everdeen's daughter, and Peeta won the Games _despite_ being Cake Mellark's son.' "

Prim said, "I don't understand."

Mother explained, "Cake Mellark was the Merchant man my parents disowned me for not marrying. But later, Pick Everdeen rescued trapped miners, while Cake Mellark let his wife beat Peeta. It took my parents seventeen years to say I was right and they were wrong, but yesterday, that's what they said."

Katniss muttered, "I _still_ say they're going to hit you up for money, Prim."

The doorbell rang.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Prim laughed till she cried when Peeta walked into Prim's house wearing new clothes and bearing a gift for Katniss: Peeta's three half-arrows.

When Prim stopped laughing and could speak again, she said, "Peeta, you know that any other boy would give Katniss _roses_ , right?"

Peeta grinned at both sisters. "True. But any other boy wouldn't know that Katniss prefers arrowheads to roses."

* * *

 **During the walk from the Village to the Square**

Peeta and Prim told Katniss about their experiences in the Remake Center and the Training Center, since those times had not been broadcasted.

Prim was saying, "...Glimmer was a deadly archer in the Training Center—shooting at _targets_. But when she shot at me in the arena, she _missed_."

Katniss snorted. "Yeah, I noticed that she wounded only one tribute, and didn't kill anybody."

Peeta laughed. "In fairness to Glimmer, shooting a bow and arrow is _harder_ than it looks. Right, Prim?"

Prim explained to Katniss, "Haymitch told us, 'During training, hide what you're good at, but learn new stuff.' So the first day, Peeta and I wound up at the archery station. We were _awful!_ We couldn't hit the side of the Presidential Mansion, I swear! And while we were shooting so bad, we were laughing like fools, and the Careers were looking at us like 'Are you crazy, or what?' "

Peeta asked, "Do you feel like telling Katniss how you got a Four as your Evaluation score?"

Katniss said, "Yeah, I wondered about that. I know they have a First Aid station; I figured you'd knock 'em dead and earn a Seven, at least."

Peeta said, "Fifteen minutes at Prim doing First Aid would have worked—if the Gamemakers had evaluated Twelve _first_ , instead of _last_. For both of us, the Gamemakers were drunk and they mostly ignored us."

Prim said, "I started at the First Aid station, and I was doing a great job—but the Gamemakers were partying too much to notice! So I thought, 'Let's see if they notice when I do something _badly_.' So the last ten minutes of my evaluation, I shot arrows at targets. Badly."

* * *

 **During that same walk**

For Katniss, the walk with Prim and Peeta was very strange. Before the Reaping, if Katniss had been asked to describe Prim, Katniss would have said, "Nice and sweet." But now Prim was nice and sweet _and confident_. Similarly, "nice guy" Peeta was now nice _and confident_.

Katniss was shocked to realize that Prim and Peeta were now like Katniss herself. Katniss had faced an attacking bear and lived, and Katniss had faced an attacking boar and lived—and now Peeta and Prim had faced attacking Careers and lived.

Katniss wondered what dating this new, arena-survived Peeta would be like.

Katniss barely noticed that the three of them had reached the Square and its District Holiday celebration, until someone yelled, "It's Katniss and 'the fans of Katniss'!"


	21. Welcome Home, Part 3

This chapter has the first mention of Gamma Churchill, a character I'm borrowing (with permission) from SFCBruce's deuterology "Absolution"/"Epiphany."

 **Chapter 21**  
 **Welcome Home, Part 3**

 **In the District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks**

Peacekeeper Captain Baxter paced around, as he spoke to the men (and one woman) who were now under his command—

"District Twelve is a powder keg now, Peacekeepers. President Snow believes that _Twelve_ believes that Primrose Everdeen was punitively Reaped, just as Eight was convinced that Spool Paylor was punitively Reaped. Spool Paylor died the first day of the Games, and Eight rioted. If Primrose Everdeen had died, you might well be fighting off a riot _here_. Instead, Primrose Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are Victors, Twelve _seems_ peaceful, and some of you are eating free donuts—more on that in a minute. Any comments?"

Peacekeeper Lieutenant—formerly _Captain_ —Cray said, "I did not rig the girl's Reaping. How many times do I have to say this?"

Baxter shrugged. "You are a confessed corrupt Peacekeeper officer who can't prove you _didn't_ rig Primrose Everdeen's Reaping, which is why Snow demoted you. But President Snow can't prove that you _did_ rig Primrose Everdeen's Reaping, and Twelve hasn't rioted _yet_ , which is why you still have your tongue in your mouth and your brains in your skull. Romulus Thread, former Head Peacekeeper in District Eight, rigged Eight's Reaping _and_ left an evidence trail, so he's now a corpse. You got off lightly, _Lieutenant_ Cray."

Baxter looked around. He saw every Peacekeeper's face show shock.

* * *

 **In the Square  
** **With the District Holiday in full swing**

Katniss was in shock. Everywhere she looked, she saw stalls giving away food—ice cream, strawberries and apples and other fruits, cakes and pies and cookies, and meats of every kind. Peeta urged Katniss to bite into a square of a dark-brown food that she had never seen before. Katniss reluctantly took a bite—then she was in heaven.

" _Mmm_ ," Katniss said. She quickly ate the rest of the square.

"It's called _chocolate_ ," Peeta said.

Prim said, "On the tribute train, they served it as a hot drink. _Delicious_ , huh?"

* * *

 **In the District Twelve Peacekeeper Barracks**

Linus Baxter, now the Head Peacekeeper for District Twelve, looked around at the assembled Peacekeepers. "Let me tell you a funny story that makes a point. The tribute train was about an hour out of Twelve when the 'rear door open' alarm went off. I thought, 'Oh no, one of the tributes has jumped off the train at 400 kph!' Needless to say, I _raced_ back to the dining car."

Baxter then described how he arrived at the dining car's dining room to discover that both tributes were alive and healthy—but every bottle of liquor in the dining room had been thrown off the rear platform or had been dropped out the window. "...Haymitch Abernathy looked like his _dog_ had died!"

Scornful laughter followed.

"I looked at those two kids and I thought, 'Give them each a sword, and One, Two, and Four won't know what hit them.' I _knew_ that one of them would be Victor. But everyone else thought they were cannonbait. Did you know that before the Gong, the odds of Primrose Everdeen winning were set at one in ninety-nine, but no money was paid out for those odds because _nobody_ bet on her? _Zero_ bets."

A Peacekeeper murmured, "Shit, I'd be _rich_ now."

Another Peacekeeper replied, "Except that you loaned your spare PDs to that nurse bitch."

Baxter continued, "And why did I _not_ bet on Primrose Everdeen, and _not_ bet on Peeta Mellark, when I was _sure_ one of them would win? Because Peacekeepers on the tribute trains are _forbidden_ to bet on tributes. The rule figures that we tribute-train Peacekeepers have inside information. Anyway, the no-bets rule was clear, so I followed the rule, _knowing_ I would miss out on a ton of PD winnings."

A stocky Peacekeeper smirked. "There are ways around that rule, sir."

Baxter glared at the man. "Oh, I'm sure there are. There is a rule against buying things from district people but not paying for what you buy, and there is a rule against whoring with the district women, but I _know_ there are ways around those two rules as well."

Baxter looked directly at Cray as he said this last part.

Baxter raised his voice: "But as of now, Peacekeepers, all the rules about Peacekeeper Conduct that you've ignored? Now you will _follow_ those rules, or you _will wish you had!_ "

The Peacekeepers looked unhappy as Baxter laid down the law: whoring district women would stop _now_ , buying poached food would stop, any Peacekeeper who owed money to a district person would pay the debt by midnight of the next payday (all eyes turned to Cray), and worst of all—

"...Right now, a District Holiday is going on out there in the Square. Lots of food is being given away. _All that food is for district people_. None of you will _demand_ food, you will not _ask_ for food, you will not drop _hints_ , and if anyone puts food in your hands, you will _give it back_. If you pop a grape into your mouth and I catch you, your ass is grass."

Now his Peacekeepers looked annoyed.

"Why am I doing this? Because while district people fear us, we also need for them to _respect_ us. But if district people _dis_ respect us, and scorn us, we give the Rebels in this district a sympathetic audience. _Corrupt Peacekeepers help the Rebellion, people_."

* * *

 **In the Square**

Katniss was amazed (and secretly pleased) as seemingly every person in District Twelve asked Prim for a hug—and Prim always happily agreed.

Peeta was also getting/giving many hugs—but when the hugger-wannabee was a teen girl, the girl looked at Katniss as she was asking Peeta for the hug. Katniss did not object, but she always felt jealous—even when the hugger was Gamma Churchill, a plain-faced Community Home teen.

"You ain't bad for a fucking Townie," Gamma said to Peeta, as soon as she finished hugging him. "You looked out for the Seam girl."

Katniss was _shocked_ how many times she herself was asked for a hug. When Katniss remarked about this, Prim shrugged. "Everyone knows what you've done for Mother and me since Dad died."

Peeta added, "And they admire you for it."

Just then, Katniss noticed that the new Head Peacekeeper and the previous Head Peacekeeper were talking with Saira Irving, the latest in a long list of Cray's desperate Seam whores. Saira was holding a corn dog, which Cray was looking at longingly, so he missed the vicious grin that Saira wore. Then suddenly Cray looked at Saira as Baxter said something. Saira shot Cray a withering look as she suddenly bit the top off the corn dog; Cray gulped noticeably.

Right after this, the new Head Peacekeeper (with unhappy Cray following) headed toward Katniss, Prim, and Peeta.

Prim and Peeta happily introduced Baxter and Katniss. Katniss picked up that both Co-Victors liked the man and that he liked them.

Then Baxter said to Katniss, "District Twelve will see changes soon. For instance, Lieutenant Cray will start buying frozen turkey from the butcher shop whenever he gets a turkey-hankering. Right, Lieutenant?"

"That's correct, sir," Cray said stiffly.

Katniss smiled a little, seeing Cray's obvious misery. Aloud, Katniss said, "Rooba is honest. She'll sell Cray good meat at a fair price."

"Also," Baxter said, "The 'electric' fence surrounding Twelve has been left _un_ electrified for years. This puts Twelve in danger of attacks from wild animals. To fix this—"

Katniss dreaded to hear what Baxter would say next.

"—I am electrifying the fence every night, from sundown to sunup."

Katniss blinked.

Then she said, "I will sleep better, sir, knowing that I don't need to worry about attacks at night from boars and bears."

Baxter smiled. "I thought you might. Well, it's been a pleasure, meeting the famous Katniss Everdeen. See you around, folks."

With this, Baxter and Cray left.

Peeta asked quietly, "How bad is this for you?"

Katniss said in surprise, "Not even slightly bad. I _never_ hunt at night—too dangerous. And I'll bet Baxter _knows_ I don't hunt at night. He's just given me permission to keep doing what I've been doing—while at the same time, beating Cray over the head with a stick."

Prim grinned. "We _told_ you Baxter was nice."

* * *

 **Elsewhere in the Square**

Cray said to Baxter, "What the _fuck_ , 'sir'? You tell Twelve's Peacekeepers we have to all be angels now, you _publicly humiliate_ me in front of Saira Irving, then you turn around and tell Everdeen she can keep on poaching?"

Baxter, in response, grabbed Cray by the collar of his Peacekeeper uniform, then Cray was dragged out of the Square and up the steps of the Justice Building. Where they stopped, Cray realized, nobody inside the Justice Building could hear their conversation; likewise, no district person was close enough to overhear the two Peacekeeper officers' argument.

Baxter said, "Suppose I could completely stop them from poaching, Katniss Everdeen and Whatzisname, her big friend—?"

"Gale Hawthorne."

"Suppose I stopped Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne from poaching. Would the Capitol eat more turkeys?"

Cray thought, _Where are you going with this?_ Aloud, he said, "No, what would happen is that lots of wild turkeys beyond the fence would eventually die of old age."

Baxter nodded. "So what she's doing isn't really stealing from the Capitol, is it? Not like somebody in Ten killing a farm-bred turkey."

"But the poaching law is on the books, and our job in Twelve is to enforce the laws. _All_ the laws."

Baxter shot Cray a look that said _Those words are especially ironic, coming from you, Cray_. What Baxter said aloud was, "If poaching were legal, if we took down the fence and everyone in Twelve could hunt wild game, nobody would take out tesserae. But we _need_ for district people to take out tesserae, because, quote—"

Cray supplied the quote: " 'Tesserae makes district people fight each other, so they are in no shape to fight the Capitol.' But it doesn't matter _why_ the poaching law is the law in Twelve, Snow expects you to enforce the law."

Baxter shook his head. "I'm to enforce the law, but more than this, _Snow expects me to calm down this district that he thinks is about to riot_. This is why Snow pulled me off tribute-train duty and put me in charge in Twelve. Demoting you, this calms Twelve down. Making the Peacekeepers here act like angels, calms Twelve down too. And easing the starvation here, even if only a little, calms down Twelve."

"It's your ass, _sir_ ," Cray said.

"I am well aware of this," Baxter said drily. "Now tell me, what does Katniss Everdeen use for a weapon? Rifle? Air gun? Knife? Slingshot?"

"A bow and arrow. She's very good."

"A bow and arrow, _seriously?_ Well, one district girl with a bow and arrow up against one Peacekeeper with a semiautomatic pistol, you know what the outcome would be, right? So I see no harm in allowing Katniss Everdeen to keep doing what she's doing."

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the Square**

Once Katniss could look past all the food, she noticed a big temporary building in a corner of the Square. It had an air-conditioner on the building's roof, and three portable generators supplying power to the building. The building had two doors: a door where people only went in, and a door where people only came out.

"What's in there?" Katniss asked.

"Let's find out," Peeta said.

The trio walked over to the entrance door.

Inside the buildings were tables; and on the tables set eight old-fashioned two-dimensional televisions. One screen was showing a silent travelogue; currently it was showing a District Three woman who was wearing a puffy paper cap that covered much of her hair, and who was doing something with tweezers. Another screen was showing a pre-Catastrophes comedy in shades of gray, of three stupid men trying to glue printed paper to a wall (and making a mess); the three men spoke to each other, but the sound was muted. A screen silently showed how to cook foods found in a Parcel Day parcel. Another muted screen taught children their letters.

The only non-muted screen was hung high up on a wall, and was visible from everywhere inside the building. That screen showed a propaganda film titled, "Keep Calm and Carry on in Panem." What the propaganda basically said was that you should keep doing your district job, whatever it was, and you should trust the smart people in the Capitol to do what was right for all of Panem; a second Dark Days would be stupid.

Katniss did not say _Bullshit!_ aloud, not when people might overhear, but she thought, _I'll bet the Capitol woman who narrates that propaganda gets to eat chocolate whenever she wants_.

* * *

 **A few minutes later  
** **Back outside the Television House**

The Co-Victors and Katniss heard a man's amplified voice coming from the stage. The man spoke with a Capitol accent.

"I just flew here from the Capitol—and boy, are my arms tired! Seriously, I came here on the same tribute train that brought your _two new Co-Victors_ home." A pause for cheering and applause. "The train traveled here at _400 kph_ —that's fast! The train could have traveled even faster, the train engineer told me, except that _Haymitch Abernathy's empty booze bottles_ weighed the train down."

It turned out that the speaker was a barely-famous stand-up comedian in the Capitol. He told jokes about how the people in District One all were idiots, how all the people in District Two were stupid, on through the stupidities of District Eleven. He said nothing at all about people of the Capitol.

Peeta leaned close to Katniss and Prim and murmured, "Next year he'll be telling some other district how stupid all Twelves are."

This made Katniss and Prim both laugh. From the stage, the comedian turned toward them and smiled. This made Katniss and Prim laugh harder.

* * *

 **Later**

The only Capitol entertainer whom Katniss completely liked was the stage magician. He did not mix-in any kind of "the Capitol is so wonderful" message, he just made stuff appear and disappear.

* * *

 **Still later**

A young man, with an accent that Katniss did not recognize, stood behind a table; on his table were big stacks of t-shirts, in every color.

"Where are you from?" Peeta asked the man.

"From District Eight."

Peeta laughed. " _Eight_ , huh? _Great!_ I thought it was only Capitols and we Twelves at this thing."

"Mostly, but some of the people handing out food are from Four, Nine, Ten, and Eleven. A Three man and a Five man assembled the Television House." He frowned. "But no district person will be going on your stage, except for locals. District people aren't good enough entertainers, it seems."

Clearly to lighten the mood, Prim gestured toward the piles of t-shirts and asked, "What have you got?"

The young man said proudly, "As soon as the trumpets sounded, my family started to print these t-shirts in our house." The man lowered his voice: "The factory where we used to work, burned up during the riots last week."

Katniss's eyebrows shot up. Panem District News had not mentioned anything about riots in District Eight.

Some of the t-shirts being given away had Peeta's name and face only, some had Prim only, but most t-shirts said "CO-VICTORS!" followed by both faces and both names.

Prim grinned and asked, "Do you have a Co-Victors t-shirt in yellow, size Small? Yellow is my favorite color."

Peeta said, "Give me a Co-Victors t-shirt in orange, size Extra Large, please."

The District Eight man handed over the t-shirts. Then he looked at Katniss with a raised eyebrow.

Katniss asked, "Can I get two t-shirts instead of just one? A Co-Victors t-shirt and a Primrose t-shirt, size Small in green."

The man smiled. "Well, I won't do this for anyone else, but considering you're Katniss whom these Co-Victors are fans of, I'll say yes." The man pulled a green t-shirt from each of two stacks, and laid the two t-shirts on the table.

Prim's eyes glowed with mischief. "If you're giving my sister _two_ t-shirts, can she have _three?_ " Prim looked at Katniss and said, "I'm sure the nice man has a size-Small green t-shirt with _Peeta_ on it."

"Indeed I do," the man said. "Shall I hand it over?"

Prim, Peeta, and the District Eight man all looked at Katniss.

"I don't promise to wear the shirt," Katniss said.

"But you'll take it?" Prim asked.

"Yes, Prim, I'll take the t-shirt with Peeta's picture on it."

"Both of us Co-Victors thank you," Prim said.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

As soon as Peeta, Katniss, and Prim had moved far enough away from the t-shirt table, Katniss said quietly, "Panem District News has not said anything about riots in District Eight."

Prim replied, "I wonder what else they don't report?"

* * *

 **Later  
** **By the performing stage in the Square**

The singer on stage was a young Capitol man barely out of his teens. He had a bad-boy look to him—he looked like Cato, but blue-haired. Katniss did not know who he was, but he had a trained voice.

By the stage stood Gale and Madge. In the few seconds that Katniss watched those two, they kissed, in front of all of District Twelve.

Katniss looked away from her friends kissing. The Square had plenty of other sights to catch Katniss's interest.

Katniss wondered whether she would enjoy kissing Peeta.

* * *

 **One second later**

Prim said, " _There's_ Gale! And Madge. I need to talk to them. _C'mon!_ "

Katniss said, " _You_ need to talk to them?"

But by then, Katniss was talking to Prim's back. Katniss murmured to Peeta, "I guess we follow her."

" _Gale! Madge! I need to talk to you!_ " Prim yelled—right when those two were about to kiss again. Katniss wondered whether Prim's yell was deliberate.

When Prim (and Katniss and Peeta) were standing close to Gale and Madge, Prim threw her arms around Gale and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! For the best advice _ever!_ "

"Um...," said Gale. He shot a panicked look toward Madge.

Madge asked, "What was the advice?"

Prim looked around at the four other people. "In the Justice Building, Gale told me, 'Think!' Then he said to me, 'You're a sweet girl, a kind girl, but if you go into the Games being _only_ sweet and kind, Prim, you will die. So _think_ , Prim.' Gale, I started thinking before I even got on the train. And I _kept_ thinking, right up till the trumpets played. And here we are, Peeta and I, because of _you_ , Gale!"

Madge said, "This is so sweet. I'm going to cry."

"Don't cry yet, Madge," Prim said. "You'll get the pin wet."

Prim reached into a pocket and pulled out the mockingjay pin. Prim said to Madge, "You loaned me this pin before the Games, and now I'm returning it."

A polite argument followed, in which Madge and Prim each insisted that the other should have the pin.

The argument was settled when Madge said, " _Primrose!_ Both my Grandmother Sugar and my Aunt Maysilee would want you to keep the pin. You've done right by it."

* * *

 **Two hours later**

Scattered around the Square were three rectangular tent roofs, with tables and chairs underneath them, where Twelves could find shade from the summer sun. Katniss, Prim, and Peeta were sitting and eating ice cream (which Katniss decided she liked), when Effie and Haymitch spotted the trio and hurried up to them.

When the tribute train had arrived at the train station, now many hours ago, the mentor and the escort had left the train together; this had not surprised Katniss. But in the hours since, Haymitch and Effie had stayed together; whenever Katniss had spotted one of them somewhere in the Square, the other had never been more than a meter and a half away. This constant companionship surprised Katniss; she found the overexcited escort to be tolerable only in very small doses, and Katniss assumed that Haymitch would feel the same.

Now Effie (with Haymitch following) _click-clack_ 'd up to the trio's table in her high heels. Effie said cheerfully, " _Good_ afternoon, Peeta and Primrose. I hope you are enjoying the ice cream?"

Peeta said, "Oh yeah, Effie, ice cream in early July is great!"

Prim said, "When I ate ice cream the night before the Gong, I couldn't enjoy it, you know? But eating ice cream in District Twelve is much better."

Katniss shot Prim a look of surprise, but then Effie was looking at _her_ , Katniss: "We haven't been properly introduced. Primrose, would you please introduce your sister to us?"

Prim said, "Effie, this is Katniss, my sister, whom you've heard so much about. Katniss, Effie Trinket. Haymitch, my sister Katniss. Katniss, Haymitch Abernathy."

This was how Katniss wound up shaking hands with Effie and with Haymitch; Haymitch had to shift his beer bottle to his left hand in order to shake Katniss's right hand.

While Katniss was shaking Haymitch's hand, Effie was sighing theatrically. "Primrose, young lady, your introductions _do_ need work."

Peeta asked, "Haymitch and Effie, what's up?"

With a grin, Haymitch asked, "So, boy, you asked Sweetheart out yet?"

Katniss gasped. She could _feel_ her face burn with embarrassment.

Peeta answered, "I haven't figured out where I'll take Katniss for our first date, so I haven't asked yet. Twelve isn't exactly the romance capital of Panem."

Effie said, "Peeta dear, it belittles a young lady when you presume that when you ask her out for a first date, she will say yes."

Katniss said, "But I _will_ say yes." Still blushing, Katniss explained, "I haven't decided about any of the other stuff that Delly Cartwright will ask about, but I've already decided I'll say yes to a first date when Peeta asks me."

Prim reached over and squeezed Katniss's hand.

Meanwhile, Peeta was grinning as he said, "In that case, Katniss, our first date will be a twelve-course candlelight dinner, including chocolate for dessert, all served on a red-linen tablecloth with actual silver flatware—or as close to this as Twelve can manage."

* * *

 **One second later**

Effie said, "I came over here to inform you about this evening's schedule and your part in it, Katniss."

Prim grinned. "Pay attention, big sister. Effie is _fanatic_ about schedules."

At six o'clock—forty-three minutes from now—the Capitol entertainers would stop for a meal break. Local musicians Robbirt Donner and Stivvin Porter would take the stage, after Mayor Undersee introduced them; the two local musicians would play five instrumental duets. Then Effie would introduce Katniss, and the District Twelve trio would perform three songs more. Effie would come back on stage, as Robbirt and Stivvin left, and Effie would host the _a capella_ "sing-off" between Katniss Everdeen and Hermione Riddle. Win or lose, Katniss would then leave the stage, Hermione Riddle's back-up musicians would take the stage, and the regular evening schedule of Capitol entertainment would resume.

Haymitch said to Katniss, "I grinned like a fool, sweetheart, when you challenged a _Capitol singer_ to a _singing_ contest. You're ballsy like your sister."

With those words, Haymitch pulled his beer bottle away from Prim, as if he were afraid Prim would snatch the bottle out of his hand. Prim and Peeta laughed, and Effie smiled. Katniss suspected she was missing a joke.

* * *

 **6:20 that evening  
** **On the performing stage  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

Robert and Stivvin had just performed five songs in a pre-Catastrophes style they called "bluegrass." The word confused Katniss—all the grass in Twelve was green.

Effie Trinket took the stage and, in her usual over-cheerful manner, said, "Let's have a big, _big_ round of applause for our District Twelve musicians, Robbirt Donner and Stivvin Porter!"

There was only a smattering of applause—and ironically, that little bit of clapping all came from the Capitols who stood at the edges of the Square. From Twelve people: no applause.

But the three Victors were standing right by the stage. Prim yelled, "C'MON, PEOPLE, THOSE ARE _TWELVES_ UP THERE, DOING A GREAT JOB! CLAP FOR THEM!" Prim, matching gestures to words, put her hands above her head and clapped loudly.

District Twelve quickly joined in. Twelves would not clap when _Effie_ told them to, but they clapped loud and long when _Prim_ told them to.

Effie, it seemed to Katniss, was unbothered by the slight. The escort, still wearing a cheerful smile, waited for the applause for Robbirt and Stivvin to die down. Then Effie said, "Now joining Mister Donner and Mister Porter on stage is a young lady well known to the people of District Twelve. In these last Hunger Games, she was spoken of often by _both_ District Twelve tributes. I give you _Katniss Everdeen!_ "

Katniss took the stage as the crowd _roared_.

The first song of the Robbirt-Stivvin-Katniss trio was "I'm Ridin' The Train to Lonesomeville." The Twelve crowd liked this pre-Catastrophes song.

Sometime during this first song, Katniss looked down from the stage. Prim and Peeta, Haymitch and Effie, Gale and Madge, Hazelle Hawthorne and her other children, Delly, Greasy Sae, Aloe Everdeen, and the Tyndales all were standing near the stage and were smiling up at Katniss. Across the Square, Darius the Peacekeeper gave Katniss a thumb-up.

The next song the Twelve trio performed was "Deep in the Meadow," which Katniss had often sung to Prim as a lullaby during the last five years.

Now Katniss looked down from the stage and saw that twelve-year-old Prim was teary and her lip was trembling.

The Twelve audience liked this song too.

After the trio had performed two songs, Robbirt and Stivvin began a fast, energetic arrangement of "The Miner and the Mine-Girl," with Katniss singing the words. The crowd went _nuts_ —especially after Prim ran up and stood on a corner of the stage, faced the three musicians, and clapped in time to the music. The rhythmic claps of the audience were so loud, it was a wonder that the Justice Building did not collapse.

Then the last song ended. Robbirt Donner (the banjo player) stepped forward and said, "Stivvin and me, our time is done. I hope you enjoyed our show." He had to wait a while for the cheers and applause to die down. "Before we go, we want to again congratulate our _Co-Victors_ , Primrose Everdeen—"

Stivvin played two bars of "Deep in the Meadow" with his fiddle.

Then Stivvin took over the speech: "—and Peeta Mellark."

Robbirt played two bars of "Capitol Party Party" on the banjo. The crowd laughed.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Robbirt and Stivvin left the stage, to applause. The District Three man moved three microphones, that had been used by back-up singers, from the stage to the Square in front of the stage. The microphones were set in front of Capitol Liaison Domiducus Jones, District Twelve Head Peacekeeper Linus Baxter, and Dr. Josephus Picardo.

Katniss saw the District Three man nod to Effie, who then joined Katniss on the otherwise-empty stage.

Effie asked, "Is Hermione Riddle here?"

"I'm here, and I'm ready to sing," a woman's voice called out. Katniss looked over at the source of the voice; Hermione Riddle this evening was dressed to make Hermione Riddle at the train station look like a frump. The _rainbow_ now was dressed in rainbow colors.

Effie said, "Now we will hold a singing contest. District Twelve's Katniss Everdeen has challenged nationally popular recording artist Hermione Riddle to prove she is the better singer."

The yells of people in the crowd—both Capitol and District Twelve—were bloodthirsty.

Effie explained the rules and introduced the judges—no one of whom was a District Twelve native.

Effie asked Katniss, "Are you ready?"

Katniss replied, "Let me say to Miss Riddle, May the odds be _ever_ in your favor." Katniss said the words in an exaggerated District Twelve accent. The Twelve crowd cheered.

Katniss nodded to Effie, who played Middle C on a pitch pipe. Katniss stepped up to the microphone and sang the first verse of "Anthem of Panem"—

 _Let us tell the story  
_ _Of dear Panem's glory,  
_ _Our heaven beneath the sky,  
_ _That protects us, keeps us dry,  
_ _All fed by the brown, rich soil,  
_ _Hand in hand do we all toil._

Katniss sang the verse with no tricks or flourishes; Katniss sang the song simply, but sang it well.

When Katniss finished singing (to cheers from everyone in Twelve), Katniss walked to the back corner of the stage. When Hermione Riddle took the stage, the singers exchanged haughty looks.

Effie again played Middle C on her pitch pipe, then Hermione sang.

While Hermione sang, Katniss stood in place and wore an unworried smile.

Every vocal trick that Hermione knew, she put into singing her version of the verse. Katniss had heard opera sung more plainly.

When Hermione finished singing, the Capitols applauded wildly; Twelves applauded not at all.

Effie came back on stage, and gestured for Katniss to come forward. Now Katniss and Hermione stood on either side of Effie, facing the audience; Katniss wondered whether Effie was about to ask Katniss and Hermione to shake hands.

Apparently not; instead, Effie asked the three judges to score the two singers.

The Capitol Liaison, Domiducus Jones, said, "I found Miss Everdeen's singing to be very plain, almost boring. Hermione Riddle is the better singer."

Hearing this, the Capitols in the crowd cheered.

Head Peacekeeper Baxter was next: "I was born in District Two, so I have no horse in this race. But I think Miss Everdeen did the better job. I don't know how to describe it, I'm not musically trained, but when you take out Miss Riddle's bells and whistles, she did not quite hit the target, whereas Miss Everdeen hit the bullseye dead center."

Twelve cheered the Head Peacekeeper's verdict.

Effie said, "Dr. Picardo, it's up to you."

Dr. Picardo said, "Besides being a doctor, I'm an amateur opera singer, and I _am_ musically trained. Miss Everdeen wins."

The Twelve crowd roared, and stomped, and clapped.

When Dr. Picardo could be heard again, he explained his decision: "I noticed that Miss Everdeen sang every note on key, with clear tones; whereas Miss Riddle, I am sorry to report, sang _flat_."

Effie gasped. "Hermione Riddle was not _pitch perfect?_ "


	22. Where Do I Take Katniss?

**Chapter 22**  
 **Where Do I Take Katniss?**

 **Still the District Holiday, late that evening  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

Prim sighed contently. "This has been a good day." Prim took Peeta's hand and Katniss's hand (Prim was sitting between them); Katniss felt her hand be squeezed.

Katniss, Prim, and Peeta were sitting under the stars, on the steps of the Justice Building; there was almost no other place left to sit.

The Capitol musicians had quit performing, and had packed up their instruments before leaving the stage. The Television House was taken apart and gone; the three tent roofs, along with their tables and chairs, were gone. All the stalls that had been handing out food were gone. Katniss, Prim, and Peeta saw a steady stream of people, both Capitols and other-district, walking toward the train station. The District Eight t-shirt man, now pushing a cart with cardboard boxes in it, waved to Katniss, Prim, and Peeta as he too walked toward the train station.

The performing stage had not been torn down yet; so now a few Twelves sat on the edge of the stage and talked. Tomorrow the miners would return to the mines, and the children would return to their last two weeks of school; but tonight, a few people were enjoying the unheard-of privilege of _no curfew_.

Fifteen minutes earlier, Prim and Peeta had said "See you tomorrow" to Effie Trinket. Katniss's eyebrows had shot up when Haymitch had offered to walk Effie to the train. _Haymitch, gallant?_ Katniss had thought then.

Now Haymitch was walking fast _from_ the train station; as soon as he reached the Square, he headed toward the trio of teens.

When Haymitch was standing in front of them, he said, "Okay, Peeta and Prim, remember that all four of us—you two, me, and Effie—will meet in Peeta's dining room at 8 a.m. for a working breakfast. Effie will bring the breakfast. Prim, trust me on this: If you ain't there by eight _on the dot_ , Effie _will_ come to your house and _will_ pound on your door like a herd of Peacekeepers. Or if you didn't lock your door, she _will_ go upstairs and shake you awake."

Katniss saw her sweet sister roll her eyes. "I know, Haymitch. I won't be late."

Haymitch looked at the Co-Victors and Katniss. "Before you go to your brand-new houses and go to bed, here are some things you should know. In the kitchen is a door to the basement; the basement is where I store all my junk. Victors, and especially lady Victors, accumulate _shitloads_ of junk over the years. At the bottom of the basement stairs, you'll find the breakers-box for your electricity."

Prim and Peeta each said a halfhearted version of "Thanks for telling us."

Haymitch looked hard into the three teens' faces. "One other thing, kids: Every room in the house, except for the basement, has at least one hidden microphone in it, and the Peacekeepers get _real_ pissy if you rip out a microphone that you're not supposed to know about. So don't touch the microphones, _and_ don't say anything in your house that you wouldn't say in Snow's office. Or if you have to talk _shit_ , step outside or find some excuse for everyone to go to the basement."

Peeta said quietly, "By 'talk shit,' you mean 'plot the overthrow of the Capitol,' right?"

Haymitch gave Peeta a long look, then he said, "I'm going home. Goodnight, and welcome to the neighborhood."

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

The three Twelve teens were still sitting on the steps of the Justice Building.

Peeta looked over at Katniss, who was staring off into space. "What's wrong, Katniss?"

Katniss shrugged. "Right now, I'm feeling very ... _extra_."

Prim said, "I don't understand."

Katniss said, "For the past five years, my hunting was the only thing preventing you and Mother from _starving_ , Little Duck. So I did my schoolwork and I hunted, and I didn't do anything else. When I was eleven, I didn't play with friends; at fifteen, I didn't talk to boys or date boys. But now, you and Mother don't _need_ me to hunt anymore; you don't _need_ me for anything. So I can be a regular sixteen-year-old girl now."

Katniss looked at Peeta. "But I don't know how to flirt, and I don't know how to be a girlfriend. Soon you'll realize this, that you can do _so_ much better than me."

Peeta smiled at Katniss. "I've never been a boyfriend before, so it's the first time for me too. We'll figure this stuff out together."

* * *

 **Around 9 a.m. the next morning (after breakfast)**

Three Victors were walking Effie from Victors' Village to the train station.

Haymitch laughed. "Kids, up ahead is a whole fucking trainful of Capitols, all _itching_ to get home. But that train ain't moving _one centimeter_ until Effie has finished talking with you two. Don't that make you feel _fucking_ important?"

Effie said, "And my people are lucky that the breakfast was a short one, because our new Victors are _decisive_ about picking their Victor Talents." Peeta's talent would be oil painting; Prim's talent would be making gourmet cheeses in her basement.

Then Effie added, "Still, it is _rude_ to keep people on the train waiting more than they need to. So Haymitch, please walk faster."

Haymitch laughed. "Sweetheart, you should know by now that being rude to Capitols, including _you_ , is almost as fun for me as getting drunk."

"And only you and your ruffian friend Chaff think that getting drunk is fun. Ah, we're almost there." Effie waved to the stationmaster.

Near one of the train cars—not the dining car, which only Effie was permitted to enter—three Capitols were smoking on the train-station platform. One of them yelled, " _Hey Effie, get on the goddamn train so we can_ _leave_ _this shithole!_ "

Haymitch yelled back, " _Poor, poor rainbows. You have to wait on district people, how sad_."

Effie said, "Haymitch, you are hopeless." But she was smiling with amusement as she said it.

Prim said, "As soon as you get to the Capitol, you'll order what we need for our Talents? Refrigerators and stainless-steel aerators for me, and oil paints for him?"

Effie said, "Don't worry, my Co-Victors, I will have all your Talent necessities on a train to District Twelve within a week."

Haymitch said, "She will, too. And _pity_ the Capitol man who takes his sweet-ass time loading something on the train. Twelve might be the poorest district, but _we_ have the escort who busts ass to take care of her people."

Effie gave Haymitch a soft look, and Prim got the impression that if the stationmaster and the cigarette-smoking Capitols had not been watching, Effie would have kissed Haymitch in public.

Instead, Effie got (and gave) brief hugs. As Peeta was hugging Effie goodbye, he said, "Thanks for all your help these last two weeks. I'm glad you were our escort."

Prim, while hugging Effie, said, "I totally agree." Prim noticed that Effie was teary-eyed; it occurred to Prim that this was probably the first time that Effie had heard kind words from District Twelve teenagers.

With a wave to the Victors, Effie stepped onto the train. The instant that Effie was technically on the train, the train began to move.

"And so the adventure ends," Peeta said.

Haymitch shook his head.

* * *

 **Minutes later**

During the three Victors' walk back to Victors' Village, Prim quietly asked Haymitch, "When I get all that cheese-making equipment and put it in my basement, is there any way to make sure that it doesn't come with extra stuff? Hidden microphones, say?"

Haymitch looked at Prim for a while, before asking, "You plan to be talking treason to your cat while you're making cheese?"

Prim herself paused, then replied, "If the time comes when Katniss and I are both in the basement, and we get to talking about _our boyfriends_ "—Prim shot a sidelong glance at Peeta—"I'd be embarrassed if Snow hears what my first kiss with Rory Hawthorne was like."

Haymitch said, his face unreadable, "Let me know in advance, sometime when all three of you will be out of your house. Then slip me the key. I'll see what I can do."

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Peeta now went looking for a place in District Twelve where he could take Katniss for their first date.

On future dates, he planned to cook a romantic dinner for two at his house, or cook a meal for four at the Everdeen house. But Peeta did not intend to go anywhere near his kitchen for his first date. Katniss might well refuse to step into his house, which had Peeta living alone without family or roommates, until Peeta had earned Katniss's trust.

No, for his first date with Katniss, Peeta intended to take her to a sit-down restaurant. The problem was, there were _no_ sit-down restaurants in Twelve.

Unless Peeta counted Greasy Sae's soup stall.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Mellark's Bakery was absolutely out of the question, as a place for Peeta to bring Katniss for their first date.

First there was the technical problem. To cook meat and vegetables in a bakery oven meant afterward that the oven would need to be shut down till it were cool to the touch, then thoroughly cleaned of the other-than-bread splatterings and drippings. The problem with this? Cake Mellark could not afford to have any oven be unproductive for hours, whenever Peeta Mellark wanted to turn the bakery into a temporary restaurant for Katniss.

The other problem was that, regardless of what official records said, Peeta's father did not run the bakery, Peeta's mother did. _No way_ would Medea Mellark allow any change in routine that would make life nicer for any "Seam trash" girl.

* * *

 **Minutes later  
** **Rooba's Butcher Shop**

Rooba said to Peeta, "I like Katniss. I've liked Katniss since she was a little girl. So I—"

"Wait, how did you know Katniss as a little girl?"

"From about four years old, sometimes Pick Everdeen brought Katniss to the butcher shop when he had game to sell. The first time she was in my shop, she wandered closer to the chicken rotisserie while her father and me were haggling. She asked me, 'Why are you spinning the chickens?' " Rooba laughed.

Peeta laughed too. "So Katniss has been in here a lot, over the years."

Rooba nodded. "Once in a while with her father until she was eight, and every time Pick came in, when Katniss was between eight and eleven. _Always_ she was so happy and smiling. After that terrible tragedy, I did not see her for a month; I worried about her. When she came in, I was _shocked_ how thin she was, and she didn't smile. In five years, she's smiled only once in my shop."

Peeta nodded. "How did you make her smile? Since the mine disaster, she always looks so serious."

Rooba said, "Two years ago, I told her she was a better shot than her father—she stared at me, then she smiled. Anyway, Katniss is like a daughter to me, so if I could help you with this first date, I would. _Believe me_ , I would. But look around. What _don't_ you see here?"

Peeta looked around. In front of him was a display case, behind which, different kinds of meat and cartons of chicken eggs were displayed. Most of the cuts of meat were raw, but Peeta also saw fried chicken that was isolated on the left side of the display case. On the customer's side of the display case was the butcher shop's display window and front door, a narrow walkway between the door and the display case that was floored in unglazed tile, and three old wooden chairs in the walkway. By the wall on Rooba's side of the display case was the aforementioned chicken rotisserie, spinning three chickens; and a metal tube that was pointed at the ceiling. Between the rotisserie and the metal tube was a shut door.

Peeta grinned. "I'm not seeing whatever it is I'm not seeing."

Rooba said, "I don't have a table for customers to eat on, and there is no space to _put_ the table."

"Maybe you have a little worktable in the back, shoved in the corner, that you don't use?"

"No. One table, I always use it, and until I clean it, it's covered in blood."

Peeta did not say _Eww_ , but he thought it. He was thankful that a bakery did not have _this_ kind of cleaning problem.

Peeta asked, "What kind of cooking do you do? Chicken you fry; what else?"

Rooba answered, "Chicken I deep-fry in the workroom, but I can deep-fry any cut of meat you buy." She jerked a thumb to mean the metal tube. "I can roast meat, and I can broil meat."

Peeta thanked Rooba and walked to the door. When Peeta had his hand on the doorknob, Rooba spoke again—

"Peeta, I'm rooting for you to give Katniss the first date she deserves. Once you find a place to take her, come see me. I don't know you, but you were a decent man in the Games and you beat those Careers fair and square, so I want to do right by you."

* * *

 **Minutes later  
** **Berg's Fruits, Vegetables, and Dairy**

Bryce Berg told Peeta, "I can't even help you as much as Rooba can. Not only do I not have any table for you and Katniss to eat at, I'm not set up for cooking."

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Peeta had all this nervous energy because he was out of easy ideas, and he needed to walk off this extra energy. So after Peeta walked out of Berg's food store, Peeta let his feet take him where they would, while his brain worked at double-speed.

What were Peeta's options for a first date that involved food? He thought and thought, and the only option that he could see was to borrow a picnic basket from Delly's family, then have a picnic under a tree at the edge of the meadow.

But the Capitol was obsessed with the Peeta-Katniss love story, Peeta knew, and so Capitols would want to know what those two Twelve teenagers said on their first date. The problem was, there was a way to listen to an outdoor conversation at a distance. (Peeta did not know what the trick was, only that such a thing could be done.) Katniss might never ever go on a second date with Peeta if talk from their first date wound up being played on "Victors Tonight."

So Peeta was back to planning the date indoors. Maybe if he found a house, someplace that wasn't a restaurant, but paid the people there to cook for him anyway?

But for _this_ to work, Peeta would need to find a house with two tables: one table where the cook and her family would eat, and one table where Katniss and Peeta would eat. No Merchant house fit that description; certainly no Seam house did.

That left only the Mayor's Mansion, which _might_ have two tables. No good—Seam-born Katniss would feel very uncomfortable eating in the Mayor's Mansion.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Peeta realized that in his random wanderings, he now was approaching the Seam. His first reaction was to turn and walk a different direction; Seam people made Peeta uneasy. Seam kids at school were darker than him and skinnier than him, they often wore patched and misfitting clothes, and sometimes they smelled.

But then Peeta caught himself. In the eyes of the rest of Panem, Peeta was the Victor for all of District Twelve, not only part of it; so Peeta was the Seam's Victor too. Also, Peeta would be mentoring many Seam kids in the years ahead; he should understand more about these people.

Most importantly, Katniss Everdeen came from the Seam. If Peeta did not understand the Seam, he would never fully understand Katniss.

Peeta resumed his walk toward the Seam.

* * *

 **Peeta in the Seam**

The houses in the Seam were small and unpainted, Peeta knew, from earlier brief ventures into the Seam. But now that Peeta really _looked_ , he saw how bad a shape the houses all were. Every house showed weathered-gray wood. Every house's roof showed signs of jury-rigged repairs: paper or rags stuffed into rips in the tarpaper, or part of the roof covered with weathered boards or, in one case, sheet metal. The "front yard" of a Seam house was tiny, seven meters wide by two meters deep, and often had heavy trash rusting away in the tiny "front yard."

As Peeta walked along one Seam road, which was in desperate need of repaving, he was approaching an old Seam woman who need a cane to walk toward Peeta. As Peeta came closer to her, she just stared at him as if he were a walking bear—or a Capitol.

"Good morning, ma'am," Peeta said to the old woman.

She did not reply, but instead continued to stare at Peeta until he had passed her.

It occurred to Peeta that he saw only one dog in the Seam, though feral cats were everywhere.

On a different Seam street, Peeta came across many preschool-aged children running and playing in the street.

One of the children recognized him as "Peeta the Victor who saved Prim from that evil boy." Instantly, the small children ran up to Peeta and, smiling, started to talk to him.

It turned out that the twenty or thirty kids were being cared for by a Seam woman in her forties. She sat on her front porch, with one heavily-scarred leg extended straight out from her chair.

Peeta said to her, "Good morning, ma'am. How are you today?"

"Not bad, Mister Victor, not bad. It ain't raining, and"—she gestured sideways, to mean all the children in front of her house—"I'm sure making money today."

"Please, call me Peeta. What's your name?"

"Firefly Patel. You mind I asking, Peeta, what you're doing here? If you're looking for Katniss, she moved out yesterday."

Peeta said, "You know I'm in love with a Seam girl, and I will be mentoring Seam kids in the years ahead. I'm here to learn what I should have learned years ago: everything about the Seam."

Firefly replied, "To grow up Seam is to know that the _whole system_ is rigged against you, but you fight back however you can. Whether it's babysitting other people's kids like me, or 'finding squirrels' like Katniss, Seam people _fight back_." Firefly's eyes were blazing now: "You hear what I'm saying?"

Peeta got the message very clearly: _When rebellion breaks out, Seam people will join in quickly, if they hadn't already been the ones to start the rebellion_.

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Walking through the Seam, Peeta came across an old man, gray-bearded, who was eating roasted squirrel on his front porch, using a pie pan for a bowl. The old man became a whole lot friendlier when Peeta told him that he too ate roasted squirrel a lot, those squirrels being shot by Katniss Everdeen.

Seconds later, the old man told Peeta, "You want to know what Seam life is like? It's _hard_ , boy. When _everything_ is going good, you have a few PDs still around when you get your next pay. Not a lot of coins, just a few—and that's if _everything_ is good. It don't take much shit in your life for all those leftover PDs to fly away. And when you're Seam, once the shit starts coming your way, you always catch _lots_ of shit."

"I'll remember that," Peeta said.

"Show you how bad Seam life is: You go to the Community Home, where you find the kids whose both parents are dead, or whose parents can't feed 'em? _Every_ kid in the Community Home is Seam."

" _Whoa_ ," Peeta said.

"One more thing to know about Seam people, boy: We got pride. When we got nothing else, we got pride. No Seam man or woman will _ever_ accept charity, not even if he's dying. Only way a Seam person will accept charity is if it ain't charity, it's a trade—soon as he can, he _will_ pay you back, even if you didn't ask him to."

"What if, say, I gave two loaves of bread to a Seam kid? That's eight PDs at worst. He or she would really feel like I'd have to be paid back?"

"Yep. Even if it took till he was eighteen, and he first became a miner, and he got his first miner pay. Bet your ass, he'd buy two loaves of bread with that first pay and hand that bread to you."

Peeta thought, _But what if the two loaves were burnt, and rain-soaked besides, would the Seam kid still feel years later that she needed to repay me?_ But when the Seam kid was Katniss Everdeen, Peeta had a real good guess what the answer to that question would be.

* * *

When eventually Peeta left the Seam, he strode straight toward the District Twelve Community Home, near the train station.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later  
** **In the Office of the Director  
** **District Twelve Community Home**

"So why are you here, Mister Mellark?" Mrs. Monescu asked. The director had Seam coloring but intelligent eyes.

Peeta said, "Before I answer that, can you tell me how many children live here?"

"Twenty-two," she said.

"Why am I here now? All of Twelve knows I want to take Katniss Everdeen out on a first date. But there's a problem with making this happen, and I'm hoping you can help me."

Mrs. Monescu looked confused. "You're hoping _I myself_ can help you, or that the _Community Home_ can help you? Either way, I can't imagine how."

Peeta explained about wanting a second table, where he and Katniss could eat and talk without being overheard, while the regular Community Home dinner was being served. "...I don't care whether this table is in the attic, or the basement, or the laundry room. Just so long as Katniss and I have privacy."

Mrs. Monescu smiled. "Funny you mentioned the laundry room. Please come with me."

In the laundry room, Mrs. Monescu showed Peeta, was a folding table. "...And since nobody will be folding clothes during dinnertime, you could indeed have a sit-down dinner here."

"Great," said Peeta, "now the tricky part is done."

"Good to hear," Mrs. Monescu said. "Let's go back to my office and talk about the menu."

* * *

 **Minutes later  
** **In the Office of the Director  
** **District Twelve Community Home**

Peeta put down the pen, and handed the piece of paper over to Mrs. Monescu. "This is what I want, so that Katniss and I can have a good meal, and to make sure there will be plenty to eat for both of us."

Mrs. Monescu stared at the piece of paper. " 'Plenty to eat,' huh?"

Peeta was asking for kilograms of beef, kilograms of cheese, seven bleached-flour loaves of bread, twenty-four potatoes, plus sweet corn, broccoli, and carrots. In addition to the cost of food, the paper offered forty PDs to pay the cooks. The paper concluded with "Peeta Mellark will provide ice cream for dessert."

As Mrs. Monescu stared open-mouthed at the paper, Peeta said, "Quote me a fair price for this food, and I'll have coins on your desk before mid-afternoon."

Peeta was not offering charity, just in case the Community Home Director would refuse the charity. Peeta was just trying to set up a catering deal that, oh by the way, would let every child in the Community Home eat as well as Katniss and Peeta for this one meal.

Mrs. Monescu looked at Peeta with a smile. "If you'll come back in an hour, I'll have a quote worked up."

* * *

 **One hour later**

Mrs. Monescu looked nervous. "Mister Mellark, if I give you exactly what you ask for, it comes to 214 PDs."

After a pause, Peeta said, "That's a little high."

Mrs. Monescu looked like she was about to say something, but Peeta cut in: "I'll pay two hundred and _thirteen_ PDs, and not a centidollar more."

If Peeta and the director were haggling over the price, the Community Home _certainly_ could not be said to be accepting charity.

"Your counteroffer is accepted," Mrs. Monescu said, with a look of relief.

Peeta grinned as he stood and shook Mrs. Monescu's hand. "Now I'm headed straight to the Capitol Bank," in the Capitol Liaison Building. "I'll have the coins on your desk within the hour."

Mrs. Monescu said, "When you and Katniss are picking out a date for your date, I'll need two days' notice, to buy the food and cook it."

Peeta laughed now. "Yes, I still need to actually ask Katniss out for a date, don't I?"

* * *

Coming next: **Everlark First Date**


	23. Everlark First Date

SFCBruce's loaned-to-me character Gamma Churchill has two amazing abilities. One, she is almost as smart as Beetee and Wiress. Two, Gamma can read emotions as well as Saturn Girl or Charles Xavier can read minds. Gamma also swears like a miner; and she hates, loathes, despises, and is not fond of Capitols.

 **Chapter 23**  
 **Everlark First Date**

 **Fifteen minutes later  
** **Prim's mansion, Victors' Village**

Katniss was doing homework in her very own bedroom—How amazing was _that?_ —when there came a knock on her bedroom door.

"Yeah?" she called out.

Prim's voice came through the door: "Someone at the front door to talk to you, big sister." Prim's voice was happy and mischievous— _I know a secret you don't know_.

Katniss sighed and went downstairs, mildly curious who her visitor might be.

Seconds later, Katniss opened the front door; there stood Peeta. "Hi, can I talk to you?" he asked.

She stepped outside, rather than invite Peeta in and let Prim hear the entire conversation.

Katniss had a pretty good idea what Peeta was about to say.

Not quite; Peeta said, "How are you doing, Katniss? How's school?"

"Um, okay. I'm looking forward to the end of the school year." Which was a week and a half away.

He nodded solemnly. "I'd be looking forward to the end of school too, if I were still _in_ school."

Silence fell between them. Katniss did not break the silence because she had no clue what to say.

"Um, listen," Peeta said, looking much more nervous than when he had faced Careers and mutt birds, "are you doing anything Friday night?"

She replied, "Usually, Friday afternoon—usually _every_ afternoon—I go out hunting, but..." Katniss could not bring herself to say _But now I don't need to do this anymore, do I?_ Katniss _hurt_ , not feeling _useful_ and _necessary_ anymore.

Katniss added, "Yes, I'm free Friday night."

Peeta asked, "Friday night, would you like to go out to eat with me?"

" 'To eat' _where?_ At the bakery? Five years ago, your mother called me a 'Seam brat.' "

Peeta winced. "No, not at the bakery." He smiled his biggest grin. "It's a surprise." Peeta dropped the smile, then added, "A surprise you will either love or hate."

She tried guessing. No, their dinner date wasn't at his new Victor house; and no, they weren't going to eat at Greasy Sae's soup stall.

Peeta looked at Katniss, trying to act nonchalant, and asked, "So, what do you say to a date Friday? Yes or no?"

Katniss snapped, "The other day, weren't you listening? I told you then that I would go out with you when you asked."

Peeta put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Great. Is six o'clock good for you?"

Half a minute later, Katniss was watching Peeta walk away toward his house, with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step, while she was shutting the front door.

Abruptly she yanked the front door open. "Um, Peeta? Do I need to bring anything for the date?" _Stupid, stupid, stupid, I should have thought to ask this earlier—I'm_ _awful_ _at this dating thing_.

Peeta turned and smiled at her. "Just bring your _amazing_ self, Katniss. I'll provide the rest."

* * *

 **Friday, 6:11 p.m.  
** **The Square, District Twelve**

Katniss was nervous. Even though she had no cause to be nervous, Prim had assured her an hour ago.

An hour ago, Prim had been plucking Katniss's eyebrows. As Katniss had suffered torture by her younger sister, Prim had said, "Listen, for the first date of your life _ever_ , it doesn't get any better for you. Peeta loves you—he told me this on the train, and he told all of Panem. Peeta didn't kill me when he could have, and he helped Windmilla and Rue instead of killing them. I _trust_ him. _Relax_ , big sister."

Yet right now, Katniss was jumpy, because she had never gone out on a date before, and now she was on a date with a Victor! Who also was the Boy with the Bread.

Meanwhile, Peeta and Katniss were walking through the Square. Katniss noticed that _everyone_ who saw the couple together, smiled at them. Perhaps because—

Tonight Katniss's hair was unbraided and brushed out by her mother, and Katniss was wearing a forest-green dress and new black shoes that had been paid for by her grandmother Beana. Both Aloe and Prim had told Katniss that she looked beautiful; and Haymitch Abernathy, who had yelled "Looking good, sweetheart!" from his front porch, had seemed to agree.

Now in the Square, Katniss noticed what they were walking toward. "Um, Peeta?"

"Yes, Katniss?"

"Why are we walking toward the Justice Building?" she asked with dread. "Is this where our date is?" She _really_ did not want to go in there if the building had a snack bar. All those Capitols in the same place as her? No thanks.

"Relax, Katniss," Peeta said, "it's not in the Justice Building; it's _beyond_ the Justice Building. Maybe you can guess now."

Sure enough, a minute later, Peeta and Katniss were walking between the Justice Building and the Capitol Liaison Building; the teens' direction had not changed.

Katniss said, "The only things ahead of us are the train station, the warehouse, and the Community Home."

"That's right. We're headed to one of those three."

"We're going to catch a train and have dinner in another district? Or in the Capitol?"

"You'll see. I hope you'll like the surprise." Katniss noticed that Peeta looked nervous now, and his smile was pasted on. Peeta added, "You like ice cream now, and you like chocolate, so today I bought five liters of chocolate ice cream at the Capitol Store. That'll be our dessert."

Katniss scowled. "Doesn't Berg's"—the District Twelve dairy store—"sell ice cream?"

"Vanilla. Mister Berg sells only vanilla. And a five-liter of vanilla at Mister Berg's store is over twice the price of chocolate ice cream at the Capitol Store."

"But you can afford it, right? It just seems to me that if you'd bought ice cream from Mister Berg, your money would stay here in Twelve, instead of making the Capitol a little richer."

Peeta sighed. "I was trying to impress you, Katniss. Because you like chocolate."

Katniss did not believe this was the only explanation. "It took you a week," she muttered. _Peeta, you've been a Victor for only a week, and already you're turning into a Capitol-lover_.

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Walking next to Peeta, Katniss blurted, " _This_ is where our date is?"

Peeta and Katniss were walking toward the front doors of the Community Home.

Peeta could not get a feel for Katniss's reaction. He asked, "What do you think about that?"

"After Dad died, and after Mother ... got lost in her head, I was _terrified_ that Prim and I would be put in here. It would have been _awful_ for Prim."

Peeta glanced sideways. Katniss wore an expression of horror.

Katniss continued, "There are two places I've _never_ wanted to be: on the Reaping stage, and in the Community Home. I've never even gone here to try to sell them game."

Peeta said, "This is where I'm taking you out to eat, yes. I promise you, they won't grab you and make you live here."

"If you say so."

Soon afterward Peeta, with Katniss standing next to him, rang the doorbell.

Four times before, Peeta had rung this doorbell, and those four times, the experience had been the same: the sound through the doors of the doorbell ringing inside the building, then a quiet wait, then Mrs. Monescu opening the door.

But now the sound of the doorbell were followed immediately by children's cheers. Peeta hear rapid footsteps zooming toward the doors, as a child's voice yelled, 'Blackie! Wait for Mrs. Monescu." One of the doors was yanked open, and Peeta saw a grinning Seam boy of seven or eight.

"Mrs. Monescu is coming," the boy told both teenagers. He looked at Katniss. "You're Seam too?"

"I am," Katniss said, her voice proud.

The boy asked Katniss, "And Peeta likes you, even though he's a Townie and you're Seam?"

"Um...yes."

"I hear you can shoot a bear dead from a kilometer away, using your bow and arrow."

Katniss smiled. "I'm good, Blackie, but I'm not _that_ good."

The door was pulled open wider, and there stood Mrs. Monescu. She glanced at Peeta and Katniss, said "Just a moment," then looked down at the boy.

"Blackie," Mrs. Monescu said, "go wash your hands, then sit down at the dinner table."

"I already washed 'em," the boy said. "Can I talk to Katniss?"

Mrs. Monescu shot Peeta a look that said _I don't believe him for a second_. Then she said, "Go wash your hands _again_ , then sit down at the dinner table. As for Katniss, she came here so she can talk to _Peeta_."

Blackie gave a resigned sigh, then turned to leave. But before he left, he looked at Katniss and said brightly, "I helped scrub the floor in the laundry room."

Katniss, judging by her expression, did not know what to make of this.

* * *

 **In the laundry room**

The folding table was covered with a brand-new white bed sheet for a small child's bed. Scuffed but matching wooden chairs had been placed on the front and back sides of the folding table. Two places were set at the folding table, each denoted by a plain plastic glass, plain white plate, and simple flatware. A folded paper towel under each fork served as a napkin. At the far left and far right ends of the sheet-covered folding table, two plain white candles in candleholders waited to be lit.

Fifteen-year-old Gamma Churchill rushed in, holding a box of matches. She lit both candles.

Gamma looked at Peeta and Katniss. "I am Gamma Churchill"—now she shifted into a snooty Capitol accent—"and I will be your server tonight. If the gentleman and the lady would please take your seats, I will bring your food out to you."

Peeta said, "Before you go to the kitchen, Gamma, how did you get the job of serving us?"

Gamma gave a cruel smile. "Mrs. Monescu told the four oldest kids to stand up—I was youngest of the four—then she said that the younger kids would vote on who got the job and its ten-PD pay. The other three older kids just stood there, didn't say jack shit. But I told the younger kids what I would say if those _fucking_ rainbows at 'Victors Tonight' tried to pump me for information. I told the little kids _exactly_ what I'd say, even though Mrs. Monescu doesn't like us older kids using miner language around the little kids. Anyway, the younger kids clapped at what I said, then they voted, and here I am. _Fucking_ Capitols."

Gamma turned west and flipped the bird at the wall.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

Katniss was in shock as Gamma brought out food and more food. A dark-brown beefsteak apiece for Peeta and her. A baked potato for each of them, with real butter to put on the potato. Cooked carrots. Sweet corn. Something green that looked like little trees.

And bread. Gamma announced as she brought out half a loaf of _white_ (not tesserae) bread, "If you eat all this up, the other half-loaf is waiting in the kitchen. Shit, I need to slice the bread! Be right back."

Gamma rushed out of the laundry room. Seconds later she had returned with a bread knife, and was slicing up the half-loaf.

Gamma chuckled self-consciously. "Sorry the slices are crooked, but I haven't had much experience at slicing good bread."

Peeta said, "Neither have I, Gamma. If a customer wants bread sliced, always it's my father or my oldest brother who does it. You're doing fine."

Katniss thought, _Peeta is soothing the feelings of a Seam girl. That's a surprise_.

Gamma soon left, returning with a white pitcher. She poured cow's milk into Peeta's glass and Katniss's glass. As Gamma poured, she said, "I'll be back in ten minutes to see if y'all need anything."

Then Gamma put the pitcher down on the folding table and turned toward Peeta, looking serious. "Mrs. Monescu will thank you for feeding us if she ain't already done it, but as one of the orphans here, _I'm_ telling you thanks for all of us. You coulda left us to our tesserae bread and our beef tongue and our chicken necks, but you didn't."

Katniss's confusion must have shown on her face, because Gamma said to Katniss, "He didn't tell you? Everything you're eating tonight, _we're_ eating, all us kids. Of course, y'all get first dibs."

Peeta was blushing, Katniss noticed. He said to Gamma, "No thanks are necessary, but you're welcome."

Gamma picked up the pitcher and walked out of the laundry room. As soon as she was gone, Katniss asked Peeta, "Why are you feeding the Community Home kids too?"

Peeta looked confused for a moment, as if wondering _Why do you need to ask this?_ Aloud, Peeta said, "Because I can easily afford it now, and because you and I eating like Gamemakers, while the orphans ate their usual beef tongue and tesserae bread, would be the cruelest thing I can imagine."

He whispered, "It's what the Capitol would do."

* * *

 **A minute later**

Katniss had loaded up her plate, including two slices of bread. As Katniss picked up a slice, she thought, _Again Peeta is feeding me bread_.

Aloud, she said, "Do you remember five years ago—?"

Peeta glanced at the slice of bread in her hand. He said to Katniss, "The pouring rain? You sitting under the apple tree, skinny and looking so sad? The two burned loaves of multigrain twist-loaf?"

Katniss stared. Then she asked. "Why do _you_ remember that day so well?"

"Because, Katniss, it was the day that I realized that you were going to die, and that I _would not_ let this happen. So I burned the bread, knowing Mother would insist I throw it to the pigs." Peeta had thrown the bread to Katniss instead.

"I've never thanked you. So I say now, thank you very much. But now I owe you my life. I owe you for Prim's life too."

Peeta sighed. "I didn't do this to be _owed_. If you never pay me back, it won't bother me at all. But if you do feel you need to repay me, sometime give me two loaves of multigrain twist-loaf and we're square."

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to act cute?"

"You haven't asked me why I burned the bread for you."

Katniss paused, then said, "Your mother beat you for burning that bread."

"She did, yes, even though she thought it was an accident." He smiled. "If she'd figured out I'd burned the bread _deliberately_ , you and I wouldn't be eating here together."

Katniss was shocked, down to her bones, that Peeta could make light of his mother murdering him over two loaves of bread. Katniss got a flash of memory then, of her father smiling down at her, and her lifelong envy of all Merchant kids was replaced by pity for Peeta.

A minute later, while Katniss's eyes were on the beefsteak that she was cutting up, she said, "I haven't asked you why you burned the bread because I'm pretty sure I know why."

Peeta spoke no words then. Katniss did not look up to catch his expression.

* * *

 **Throughout the date**

Peeta told Katniss about the first loaf of bread he had ever baked, at age seven. His father had deliberately not sold that loaf before it went stale, so that the Mellark family could eat that loaf and Peeta could eat bread he had baked.

Katniss told Peeta about the first animal she had killed, a rabbit, when she was eight. It had taken four arrows—one arrow missing the rabbit, one arrow injuring the rabbit, one arrow stopping the rabbit but not swiftly killing it, and the death-arrow. Little Katniss had been jumping up and down, she had been so happy, and her grinning father had hugged her. Back at the shack, Katniss's father told her mother that Katniss was "a dragonslayer."

Peeta described the day, when he was twelve, when he realized he was better at decorating cakes than were both his father and his older brothers.

Katniss told Peeta about the day she went to steal honey out of a beehive, and a bear disputed ownership of the beehive.

Peeta did not talk about being in the Hunger Games; Katniss did not talk about watching Prim be in the Hunger Games.

Sometime while Katniss was sitting in the Community Home laundry room, finishing up her second helping of delicious broccoli (the little green trees), Katniss realized that she trusted Peeta, just as Prim trusted him.

* * *

 **Later**

Gamma had popped in several times while Peeta and Katniss were eating and talking—mainly to top off their milk glasses. Now Gamma was serving Peeta and Katniss each a bowl of brown ice cream.

From the dining room came the sound of children cheering. Katniss thought, _It's Peeta's chocolate ice cream that is making those children happy_.

As Katniss was handed her bowl of ice cream, Gamma said, "Peeta loves you—he fucking _glows_ with it. And he hasn't felt one evil feeling about you all night."

Katniss did not reply _What a weird thing to say_.

Katniss did not ask _How do_ _you_ _know what Peeta feels or doesn't feel?_

Instead, Katniss said, "I know."

* * *

 **Later, while walking back to Victors' Village**

Katniss and Peeta were walking through the Square. Katniss saw another young couple, who probably had just come from the Hob, step into the Square.

From the other couple came Madge's voice: "Hello, Peeta. Hello Katniss. Lovely night, isn't it?"

Peeta asked Katniss, "Shall we go talk to them?"

"I don't care," she replied. This was a lie, because Katniss had figured out who the tall young man with Madge had to be.

Sure enough, when the other young man and woman moved closer, Katniss saw that it was Gale who was with Madge.

"How are y'all doing?" Peeta asked politely.

"We're doing fine," Madge said, wearing a smile that could mean anything.

"Doing okay," Gale said, while looking away from both Katniss and Peeta.

Katniss said, "We just came from the Community Home, where we had our first date. Yeah, it's a weird place for a first date, but I enjoyed it."

Gale's eyes now were staring into Katniss's eyes, trying to ask questions without speaking. In answer to those unspoken questions, Katniss reached over and took Peeta's hand.

* * *

 **Minutes later  
** **In Victors' Village, in front of Prim's mansion**

Peeta and Katniss still were holding hands.

Katniss said, "The Community Home kids really enjoyed the chocolate ice cream." Translation: _I shouldn't have come down so hard on you_.

Peeta smiled. "I'm glad I could make them happy."

Katniss decided that Peeta had a beautiful smile.

Katniss had no idea what to say next. But in holodramas she had seen, the girl always said at the end of a good date, "I had a lovely time." So Katniss spoke that phrase.

Peeta replied, "I had a lovely time too, Katniss. This has been a dream come true for me."

Peeta stepped forward then.

Katniss did not step back.

Peeta leaned forward then.

Katniss watched his face come closer.

Peeta kissed Katniss, while still holding her hand.

While still holding Peeta's hand, Katniss kissed back.

Then to make sure Peeta got the message, Katniss kissed him a second time.

* * *

At this moment, the future of Panem changed.

* * *

 _AUTHOR'S NOTE:_ Since Peeta and Prim won the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games in Chapter 15, eight chapters have followed. Some parts of those chapters have been as straightforward and conflict-free ( _ahem_ , boring) as painting the master bedroom.

But if you've just constructed a house, painting the master bedroom is _necessary_. Similarly, these eight chapters are necessary, because I've used them to line up a pondful of ducks all in a row (to mix my metaphors).

Things are about to get dramatic again, readers. But you should know by now not to expect a retread of _Catching Fire_ and _Mockingjay_.


	24. A Chat with Snow

The question arises, "How could the negotiators for the rebels have agreed in good conscience to terms in the Treaty of the Treason that established the Hunger Games that Katniss endured in canon?"

The most obvious part of the answer is that the Hunger Games evolved over seventy-four years; that the Tribute Parade, the Tribute Interviews, the Cornucopia, silver parachutes, Quarter Quells, and "Career tributes" were not part of the very first Hunger Games and were not described in the TotT.

But the rest of the answer, in my headcanon, is that the rebel negotiators agreed to Hunger Games that were awful but not nightmarish, but the Capitol broke the treaty and made the Games more horrible in reality than they had been described on paper. With Thirteen out of the fight and presumed to be destroyed, the other twelve districts had no way to make the Capitol dial down the Games.

 **Chapter 24**  
 **A Chat with Snow**

 **Five-and-a-half months later (mid-December)**

Prim was down in the cold basement, making cheese, when the basement door opened. Aloe called down, "Doorbell, Prim."

"Thanks, Mother," Prim said, and walked up the stairs.

Prim wondered who was at the door. Head Peacekeeper Baxter thankfully never had official business with the Everdeen family. Mayor Undersee or Capitol Liaison Jones had official business with Prim only occasionally, and Haymitch never visited unless he had been invited to dinner (even though he lived next door). Peeta came over often—but only when Katniss was home; at the moment, Katniss was in school.

Lately Katniss was spending much time at Peeta's house. "Modeling for oil paintings" was their mutual excuse. Prim smiled as she grabbed the doorknob.

Prim's visitor turned out to be one of Snow's bodyguards—in fact, it was the same man who had aimed a pistol at Prim while Prim had been saving the president from a tiny tomato.

"Yes, Mister Pietus?" Prim now asked nervously.

With no expression, the man said, "Your presence is requested in the study of Mister Mellark's house."

Prim turned back to look at her mother, who now was standing in the living room, looking frightened. Prim gave Mother a fake smile that was intended to say _Everything will be all right_. Then Prim turned back to Pietus. "Let's go," Prim said.

As Prim crossed the green to get to Peeta's house, with Pietus following, Prim saw a black limousine parked in front of Peeta's house.

Prim was frightened for her life now; but she lifted her chin, trying not to let her fear show.

* * *

 **One minute later**

When Prim walked into Peeta's study with Pietus following, she found three other people already there: Peeta (who had a slash of sky-blue paint on the back of his left hand), another presidential bodyguard—and President Snow, who was sitting behind Peeta's desk.

"Ah, Miss Everdeen, thank you for coming," Snow said. "Now, before we get down to business, let me just say, Mister Mellark, these are delicious cookies."

Peeta replied, "Sir, if I'd known you were coming, I would have baked more."

Snow gave Peeta a skeptical look that said _If you had known I was coming, more likely you would rigged the welcome mat to explode_.

Aloud, Snow said, "I suppose you are wondering why I called this meeting." He looked expectantly at Peeta and Prim—

Neither of whom spoke.

Snow said, "In a week, you will begin your Victory Tour, during which you will travel to every district. In a few districts are some eccentrics and malcontents who wish to start another rebellion. They are doomed to failure, and they will achieve only the bringing of misery to innocent people in their districts, but they spurn the voices of wisdom. What I require from you two is to make them see reason."

Prim said, " 'Some eccentrics and malcontents,' that's who the Rebels are?"

She locked eyes with Peeta. She saw Peeta frown; he too had realized that Snow was not being truthful with them. Six Victors (that Peeta and Prim knew of) had to certainly be counted among the "eccentrics and malcontents." Prim suspected that many District Twelve miners were Rebels.

Prim continued, "How bad are you talking about, rocks thrown at Peacekeepers? Or worse?"

"Hardly serious, Miss Everdeen. A few yelled obscenities, disturbances to the peace here and there." So Snow was not going to mention the riot in District Eight, back during the Games. "But I would prefer that you two talk the Rebels into stopping their rabble-rousing and disruptive acts, rather than I send in Peacekeepers to _persuade_ them more forcefully."

Peeta said, sounding puzzled, "If there are only a few of them, and they aren't causing big trouble, then just ignore them. Less work for everybody. And if they _are_ a problem, a big problem, what can two District Twelve kids do to fix things?"

Prim added, while making her face look sweet and innocent, "Plus you're the nation's president, and you can go on holo anytime you want. So go on holo, tell the eccentrics and malcontents they're acting stupid, and tell them to stop."

Snow's voice was calm, but Prim saw his nostrils flare in anger: "Mister Mellark, _any_ level of rebellion must be defeated, never ignored. Miss Everdeen, the Rebels see the Capitol as their enemy, and me as their greatest enemy. They do not listen to the Capitol; they _certainly_ do not listen to me. Your task now is to get them to listen to you, and to make them stop their foolishness."

Prim said, "Why would we try? I'm twelve, and Peeta isn't seventeen yet. People would _know_ we don't know what we're talking about; we'd be laughed-at in every district."

"You would _try_ , Victors, because you would not like the cost of failure."

Peeta, who looked worried, asked, "And what would be the cost of our failure?"

Snow calmly replied, "Cake, Medea, Cutter, and Yeast Mellark would die. Aloe and Katniss Everdeen would die. You each would mourn the death of Katniss Everdeen, would you not? Miss Everdeen's goat and cat would die."

Prim gasped.

Peeta said, "Let me see if I understand you."

Speaking _almost_ calmly, Peeta continued, "In addition to the usual Victory Tour speech of 'Your tributes were swell kids and I'm sorry I had to kill them, but hey, it sure beats another war, right?', it's up to Prim and me to completely stop _all_ rebellion in _all twelve_ districts. If _any_ rebellion happens _anywhere_ , from cuss words to thrown white-lightning bottles to, hypothetically, attacks on Peacekeepers and burned-down factories, Prim and I are to blame, and our families will die."

Snow's eyes narrowed at Peeta's "hypothetical" description of the District Eight riot. Then Snow looked at Peeta and Prim and said, "I warn you of the high cost of failure so as to make you much eager to succeed."

"Then _please_ , President Snow," Prim said, sobbing now, "my mother and Katniss, Buttercup and Lady, please _kill_ them now, do it _quickly_ , don't make them suffer, don't make _me_ suffer. Because what you demand of us, _it can't be done!_ "

Snow looked shocked. Nobody spoke at first.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Snow said, "If you two are clever enough to outsmart Mister Crane, you are clever enough to find a way to achieve what I demand."

Peeta asked, "Prim, why are you _so sure_ that you and I calming the districts can't be done?"

Sniffling, Prim replied, "Because of Article One of the Treaty of the Treason. We studied the entire Treaty in class, just a week before I was Reaped."

* * *

 **One second later**

Prim quoted Article One: "To punish those of the districts who took up arms against the Capitol, but to not destroy the districts themselves, two children of rebels from each district will be taken away and put into an arena each year, there to battle to the death."

Prim said, "Article One at first sounds horrible for the districts. But seventy-five years ago, it also has implied _promises_ for the districts. Non-rebellious parents' children would never be put in the pen. And each year, the number of eligible children would drop, as rebels' children aged out, and the district children who were between twelve and eighteen had more and more parents who were too young to fight in the rebellion. Sometime between the twentieth and thirtieth Hunger Games, those Games would have to stop because there would be _no eligible tributes_."

Prim took a deep breath. "But in the actual Hunger Games, the eligibles weren't defined as only rebels' children, but _all_ district children. In District Twelve, merchant children were just as much in danger as Seam children. And when all the rebels' children had aged out, the Reapings continued. It would not surprise me to be told that, right from the first Hunger Games, district people felt cheated and they felt resentful. And by the thirtieth Games? _More_ feeling cheated, _more_ resentful."

Prim looked at Snow. "Nobody has walked up to me and said, 'I want another rebellion.'—"

Which was a true statement, but misleading.

Prim continued, "—But if someone resents the Games continuing, fifty years after they should have stopped, this resentment will only get worse in the future. _I_ can't talk anyone out of that resentment, and not even silver-tongued Peeta can. You want to stop rebellious acts? _Stop the Games_."

Peeta said, "It _would_ show 'generosity and flexibility,' " quoting from the propaganda film that was mandatory viewing during every Reaping Ceremony.

* * *

Snow indulged Prim's lengthy explanation. Then he said haughtily, " _Children_ is meant metaphorically. It means _progeny_ , it means _descendants_."

Prim replied, "I doubt that the rebel negotiators would have signed the Treaty of the Treason if _descendants_ had been written into Article One."

Snow said coldly, "The Games will continue."

Prim replied, "Then rebellion will continue."

Peeta said, "Prim makes a good argument. Besides, if you punish the children of loyalists, why should anyone in the districts be loyal? My mother's Capitol dance-music collection didn't keep my name out of the Reaping ball."

Snow said, "You two are ungrateful, just like your mentor, for all the generosity that has been shown you."

Peeta raised an eyebrow. " 'Generosity'? Prim and I were put into an arena of murder, when neither we nor our parents had done anything wrong."

Snow frowned.

* * *

 **One second later**

Prim hurried to change the subject. She said, "President Snow, am I right that there is some reason you want Peeta and me to talk the hidden Rebels out of rebellion, instead of Finnick making the speeches? Or Gloss and Cashmere? Or"—Prim grinned—" _Johanna Mason?_ "

Snow said, "You two should talk to the Rebels because your trick with the nightlock rebelled against the traditions of the Games. I am sure the Rebels see you two as kindred spirits."

Prim shrugged. "We weren't feeling rebellious, we were feeling desperate. No matter. You think that if the Rebels will listen to anyone, they'll listen to us, right?"

"I just said this, yes."

"Well, if you send us out to the districts with little speeches written by Effie, and you've ordered Effie what to write, I warn you that nothing will change. After we leave, Rebels in the districts will act the same as if you'd given those speeches yourself."

Peeta added, "Prim's right. District people aren't stupid, they won't be fooled for an instant just because it's she and I speaking the words."

Snow said, "So you're telling me you think it's hopeless."

Prim said, "I'm asking you, let Peeta and I speak our own words. Let Peeta and I be _honest_. That _might_ calm people down, who knows?"

Peeta nodded. "Show people respect and their anger goes away."

Prim said, "We won't make district people love the Capitol, but if we talk straight with them, _maybe_ we can get folks to mutter in their cups rather than to throw rocks at Peacekeepers."

"And what if I want guarantees that you can calm the districts with your honest talk?"

Prim took a deep breath. "If you insist on guarantees, my family is dead, so please kill them now so they don't suffer. Mother is at my house. Katniss is in school now. My goat is in my back yard. Buttercup could be anywhere."

Snow looked at Peeta and Prim. "No, this will not be necessary. Speak as honestly as you two feel you need to speak—except that you endorsing rebellion is out. Since this is an experiment, and experiments sometimes fail, I will not punish you for failure."

Prim looked at Peeta. Peeta looked as relieved as Prim felt.

" _Thank you_ , President Snow," Prim said sincerely.

"Do not make me regret granting you this permission," Snow said. "Mister Mellark, Miss Everdeen, you are dismissed."


	25. Victory Tour, Part 1

Is anyone here a fan of "The Americans"? I can easily imagine Philip or Elizabeth (or Paige?) Jennings pulling this trick.

 **Chapter 25**  
 **Victory Tour, Part 1**

 **Six days later**

It was the day before Twelve's three Victors, plus Effie, would leave their district and would begin the Victory Tour.

Peeta's prep team had invaded Peeta's house, and Prim's prep team had invaded her house (to the annoyance of Buttercup and Katniss both, so Prim had told Haymitch earlier in the day). The prep teams would spare Haymitch all the nonsense, except for trimming his eyebrows, cutting his hair, and the laser-tailor taking his current measurements.

Haymitch's doorbell rang. He yelled, " _It's open, Effie!_ "

When the door did not open, Haymitch, grumbling, went to answer the front door. Haymitch expected to see a prep-team Capitol on his doorstep; or Effie, ready to lecture Haymitch about breaking some obscure rule of manners.

Instead, he saw a drug-addicted man with the pinpoint-pupil eyes and the sky-blue coveralls of a District Six worker on the tribute train. Next to the man was a dolly, to which were lashed two shoebox-sized boxes.

"I got a special delivery for you, dude," the man said. "Don't know what's in them, but they are fucking _heavy_."

As the man carried the boxes in and set them by Haymitch's couch, Haymitch saw that the two boxes were addressed the same—

 _FROM: Lyme Sahad, V56 D02  
TO: Haymitch Abernathy, V50 D12  
DELIVER BEFORE HE LEAVES ON VICTORY TOUR!_

Haymitch wondered what Lyme, the Victor of the Fifty-sixth Hunger Games, could possibly be sending Haymitch all the way from District Two, and why it was so important that the boxes be delivered _right now_.

What was in the boxes turned out to be granite nameplates. One granite nameplate said "Peeta Mellark—Co-Victor of the 74th Hunger Games." The other nameplate had Prim's name.

To Haymitch, the granite nameplates looked like tiny headstones.

In each box was one granite nameplate, nine cardboard squares that acted like spacers, and a note. Each box's handwritten note was the same, except for its salutation—

 _Dear [Peeta/Primrose],_

 _I'm giving you this before you begin your Tour, because it would be awkward to give it to you in Two. (Maybe you've noticed it's heavy?) I look forward to meeting you._

 _—_ _Lyme_

 _P.S. Haymitch needs the exercise._

Haymitch looked over the cardboard squares. Seventeen cardboard squares were completely unremarkable; the other square had a fingernail-crescent on one side, near a corner.

Haymitch's eyebrows went up.

He carried the cardboard square into his bathroom. By using a razor blade, some hair-trimming scissors that Effie had bought for him, and much profanity, Haymitch managed to peel the top layer off the cardboard square.

The cardboard square had been hollowed out. In the hollow was a tiny optical disk in a thin case.

Haymitch slipped the optical disk and case into a pocket. Haymitch now saw that four dots and a letter _M_ had been written into the bottom of the hollow; the optical disk had covered up the dots and _M_.

Haymitch used the hair-trimming scissors to cut the dismembered cardboard square into tiny pieces; those pieces he flushed down the toilet.

* * *

 **The next morning**

As Haymitch and Effie watched (and as a holo-camera filmed), Peeta stepped out of his mansion, then he locked the front door. He walked across the green to Prim's mansion, rang the doorbell, and was admitted.

Not quite two minutes later, the door opened, and Peeta and Prim stepped out. Peeta knew he was grinning like a fool.

"Hi, everyone," grinning Peeta said to the camera.

Prim waved to the camera. "Good morning, Panem, we're about to come visit you!"

Then Haymitch, Effie, Peeta, and Prim all climbed into Domiducus Jones's limousine, and the limousine was filmed driving off.

Peeta noticed that in the limousine, Haymitch and Effie were sitting _very_ close to each other.

Haymitch smirked at Peeta. "The entire Capitol is upset with you, boy: They didn't see Sweetheart's sister give you a goodbye kiss."

"Good thing they didn't," Prim said, "The camera would've _melted_. Who knew Katniss had it in her?"

Peeta and Prim high-fived.

Peeta told Haymitch, "Katniss likes being seen in public only when she has something public to say. 'I love you and I'll miss you' is definitely _not_ public."

Effie sighed. "Young love—this is _so_ romantic."

* * *

 **That afternoon  
Entering District Eleven**

From inside the tribute train's dining room, Peeta and Prim both stared in horror out the windows. Haymitch frowned. Prim could not read Effie's expression at all.

Prim knew that the electrified fence in District Twelve was only two meters tall, and had nothing atop it; but now Prim saw that the electrified fence at the outskirts of District Eleven was six meters tall and had razorwire at the top. For ten meters inside the District Eleven fence, the land was bare dirt—not even grass was allowed there.

The District Twelve fence had no cameras anywhere, so Katniss had told Prim; but now Prim saw that the District Eleven fence had inward-aimed cameras every twenty meters or so.

"This isn't a district," Peeta said, "it's a prison."

Prim nodded.

* * *

 **Later  
Public Square Number 1, District Eleven**

Peeta did not have a good feel for Effie Trinket yet, except that he could tell when her smile was real (or at least _mostly_ real), and when her smile was fake. As Peeta and Prim stepped forward toward the microphone, about to give a speech that no Capitol had written even a sentence of, Effie's smile was fake, fake, fake.

 _Effie is afraid that things will go bad and somehow she'll be blamed_ , Peeta thought.

And things could easily go bad here, Peeta saw. The Peacekeepers who stood on the edges of the Square all were wearing white helmets with faceplates down, and all were holding riot batons. These District Eleven Peacekeepers were _scary_ in a way that Twelve's Peacekeepers had never been. Peeta looked out at several thousand dark-skinned faces of District Eleven residents, and saw not one person smiling.

 _This is a prison_ , Peeta thought for the second time.

At the far end of this Square stood two temporary platforms, each with a family standing on it. Above the left platform hung a giant photograph of Thresh, in his Training Center clothing; above the right platform hung a giant photograph of Rue, similarly dressed. (Peeta's memory flashed back to his own photograph being taken during his first day in the Training Center; the Capitol photographer had acted bored. The photographer had told Peeta not to smile for the photo; Peeta had found it very easy to obey this order.)

Now Peeta said, "Family of Thresh, family of Rue, we are sorry for your losses."

The entire crowd blinked in surprise. This was not what outer-district residents were used to hearing from Victory Tour Victors, Peeta knew very well.

Peeta said, "I never met Thresh in the arena. In the Training Center, I watched him zoom along the overhead bars as quick as lightning. He was _strong_."

Everyone in Thresh's family briefly smiled.

Prim said, "In the Training Center, twice I saw Careers—Marvel and Marlin—try to talk to Thresh. I suppose they were trying to recruit him. Both times he stood there, wearing an expression of 'How stupid do you think I am?' Then when the Career boy stopped talking, Thresh didn't even say _no_ , he just walked away."

Across the square, Thresh's mother nodded.

Peeta said, "No Career tribute killed Thresh, the Gamemakers killed Thresh. You're right to feel proud of him."

Now Thresh's family members all looked angry.

It was easy for Peeta and Prim to talk about Thresh, because they had never befriended Thresh. But Peeta got choked up, talking about Rue; and Prim's voice got rough at times too.

Peeta and Prim each pledged half of one month's Victor Stipend, each year for the rest of their respective lives, to go to the family of their ally Rue.

Then Prim said, "I need to talk about my stunt with the nightlock berries. I've been asked flat-out if I intended to send a message to the Capitol, of 'Get lost.'—"

Behind Prim, Peeta heard Effie gasp. Now Peeta saw that Prim had _everyone's_ attention—the people in the crowd and the two tributes' families all were looking attentively at Prim; and the Peacekeepers' faceplates all were turned toward her.

Prim continued, "The answer is no, I was not trying to send a message. Head Gamemaker Seneca Crane gave me three choices at the end—kill Peeta, let Peeta kill me, or let myself be pecked by a flock of birds. I did not like those choices, so I gave Seneca Crane a choice of my own. _I was not bluffing_ —I was _one second_ away from chomping down on those nightlock berries. But I wasn't doing rebellion. Trust me, folks, with those birds on the Cornucopia staring at me, and knowing how much they all pecking me would _hurt_ , I was _not_ thinking, 'How can I encourage a rebellion?' "

Now Peeta leaned toward the microphone. "Folks, President Snow has told us that there are Rebels in some districts. I have no idea whether the Rebels in District Eleven are only two people, or a hundred people, or a hundred percent of you—and I sure won't ask for a show of hands!"

The crowd laughed.

Peeta continued, "President Snow also told Prim and me that if rebellion breaks out again, the Rebels will lose again. I don't know anything about the subject, so I can't say he's wrong. Your life is hard and some of you are unhappy, but please don't do something you'll regret."

The crowd was still silent then, still watching Peeta and Prim. Near the front of the crowd, an old man whistled four notes as if they meant something.

Behind Peeta, someone sucked in his breath. In front of Peeta, all the Peacekeepers' bodies tensed.

Then the old man raised his hands above his head. He began to clap.

Both behind and in front of Peeta, everyone added their applause. Thresh's family and Rue's family applauded.

The Peacekeepers relaxed.

* * *

 **During the next week and a half  
In Districts Ten through Five**

Peeta and Prim gave the other districts the same speech as they had given in District Eleven—which was unlike what the different districts' residents had heard before, and _certainly_ unlike what Peeta had heard before, when he had been made to shiver in Twelve's Square during prior wintertime Victory Tours.

In Peeta's and Prim's speeches, the Capitol was not praised or flattered, and President Snow was not praised or flattered. The Games themselves certainly were _not_ praised as "the way that we bring peace to Panem." Prim's explanation of "the nightlock-berries stunt" was much less glorious than how "Victors Tonight" was spinning the event.

Prim and Peeta did not _criticize_ the Capitol, or Snow, or the Games—the Co-Victors were not stupid—but while Rebels in the crowd were warned, they were never denounced. Whenever Prim and Peeta could, they expressed sympathy for the hard life of people in whatever district they were visiting, though the Co-Victors stopped short of calling for an uprising by the people of that district.

When Peeta had been required to stand in Twelve's Square and had been forced to listen to a non-Twelve Victor give a speech, Twelve's applause had been brief and grudging. So Peeta now was _shocked_ when the locals' applause was long, loud, and heartfelt.

No district rioted, or demonstrated, or even yelled, while Peeta and Prim were speaking to them. By the time Peeta and Prim ended their speeches in District Five, to loud applause and cheering, Haymitch and Effie looked relaxed.

When each district mayor hosted a formal dinner for the Co-Victors, the mayor and all the other local district people acted _genuinely friendly_ toward Peeta and Prim. If anyone at a dinner was standoffish to the new Twelve Victors, the party-pooper was always the Capitol Liaison or another local Capitol.

Just as Peeta and Prim had done with Rue, they each pledged half of one month's Victor Stipend, each year for the rest of their respective lives, to go to the family of their ally Windmilla Finch of District Five.

* * *

During the trainride from District Five to District Four, both Peeta and Prim worried. Four was where Marina was from, and Peeta and Prim had worked together to kill Marina. How would the Fours treat Peeta and Prim?

* * *

During the trainride from District Five to District Four, Haymitch worried. In District Four, he had an optical disk to pass along—but if the Peacekeepers searched him while he was carrying that disk, the Rebellion would be kicked in the teeth for years to come. (Not to mention that Lyme's and Haymitch's lives afterward would be both short and agonizing.)


	26. Victory Tour, Part 2

**Chapter 26**  
 **Victory Tour, Part 2**

 **Roughly a day later  
Early January in District Four**

In Four's main Square, near to Four's Justice Building, Peeta and Prim spoke to District Four residents.

Neither of the Co-Victors said much about Marlin, District Four's male tribute. Neither Peeta nor Prim had interacted with Marlin in the arena, only in the Training Center, and Peeta and Prim certainly were not about to tell District Four people that Marlin in the Training Center had been an asshole. But Peeta and Prim praised _Marina_ to the skies. Peeta told the crowd how Marina had told him the secret to mastering the rope ladder; and Prim told the crowd, "I'm the person who killed her, but I miss her."

Then Peeta and Prim told Four people the truth about nightlock berries and about rebellion.

As had happened in seven previous districts, a Four crowd that had merely stood in the cold and stared at Peeta and Prim when the new Victors had first approached the microphone, clapped and cheered Peeta and Prim at the end of their speech.

Then followed the formal dinner with the mayor of Four, a few local Victors (one of whom was an old woman), and a few Capitols and other local bigwigs. As had happened in seven previous districts, the Four district residents were warm and friendly to Peeta and Prim, while the Capitols acted stiffly polite.

* * *

 **After the District Four mayor's dinner**

Peeta, Prim, and Haymitch went back to the tribute train, briefly, to change clothes before attending a party at SurfEllen Cassidy's mansion—

A party to which Effie Trinket was _not_ invited.

Peeta said on the train, "Effie, someday when _I_ throw a big party, I'll _always_ invite you. You're a nice person and you helped Prim and me a lot in our Games."

Prim nodded and smiled. "We like you, Effie."

Effie smiled, and her smile included her eyes. "You two are _such_ dears. I've forgotten what it's like to hear _kind_ words from a Twelve Victor."

Haymitch smirked. "Hey, what _is_ this? Didn't I tell you that your outfit for the District Ten mayor's dinner wasn't _completely_ ridiculous?"

"Oh, you mean _a week or so_ ago, you were _almost_ complimentary?" Effie retorted, but she was smiling in amusement.

Then Effie looked at the Co-Victors again. "But you two need to go the party, where you can talk freely to Victors who _aren't_ cynical, sarcastic drunks. Myself, I plan to change into my pajamas, read a Capitol Passion romance, and watch some holo maybe."

Haymitch asked casually, "You're changing into your _pajamas_ tonight?" Peeta got the feeling that his mentor and his escort were speaking in code.

* * *

 **Thirty minutes later  
In Victors' Village, District Four**

Standing on SurfEllen Cassidy's doorstep, Prim was nervous. She said to Peeta and Haymitch, "I've never been to a party before. I don't want to make a fool of myself." Prim explained to Peeta, "In the Seam, we can't afford to throw parties."

Haymitch said, "Just one piece of advice, sweetheart, from the voice of experience: Don't drink any booze at any party till you have crow's-feet."

Peeta said, "Don't worry, Prim, if you're about to make a fool of yourself, I'll be with you all night."

Haymitch said, "What say we go inside? I'm freezing my ass off in 'warm' District Four, even in this coat." Haymitch pressed the doorbell.

* * *

 **Half a minute later  
Inside SurfEllen's mansion**

Haymitch could tell that the kids did not know what to make of SurfEllen's friendly greeting; after all, the kids had worked together to kill SurfEllen's tribute.

Haymitch, meanwhile, unbuttoned his winter coat, but made no attempt to take the coat off. Instead, he jammed his hands into the coat's pockets.

The twenty-something, redheaded hostess saw all this and said, "Just leave your coats in the guest bedroom." As every Victor lived in a mansion with the exact same floorplan, SurfEllen did not give directions to the guest bedroom downstairs.

Haymitch replied to SurfEllen, "I'm gonna keep my coat on a little longer, yeah? I'm still cold."

SurfEllen said to Peeta and Prim, "Marina's parents wanted to meet with you today, but they couldn't make it happen. They asked me to tell you: They understand why you killed Marina, and they forgive you. They were deeply touched when you saluted Marina in the arena."

Peeta and Prim looked stunned.

Haymitch tapped Peeta on the shoulder. "If you need me, I'll be over by the fireplace, talking to Mags Flanagan. In the meantime, mingle, have fun—but not _too much_ fun—and enjoy the seafood."

Seventy-nine-year-old Mags was sitting on a couch that faced the fireplace, which was only two meters away. On the couch next to Mags lay a pad of paper and a pen.

As Haymitch came nearer, Mags used her cane to stand up. Like Haymitch, Mags was wearing a winter coat, unbuttoned. Inside the coat, Haymitch could see a woman's workshirt and canvas work pants. Mags was wearing women's workshoes.

Haymitch glanced across the living room. Finnick was holding Prim's hand, clearly about to kiss it. Finnick was grinning like a crazy man and was talking so over-the-top romantic that Prim, Peeta, SurfEllen, and Annie all were laughing.

Across the room, Finnick said loudly, "I hereby hand over my 'youngest Victor ever' title to the most beautiful girl in Panem: Primrose Everdeen!"

Haymitch, meanwhile, said to Mags, "It's okay if I hug you, yeah?"

At the same moment that Finnick kissed Prim's hand—to the applause of the other District Four Victors—Haymitch pulled his hands out of his coat pockets, reached inside Mags's open coat, and Haymitch's arms went around her waist—

But not to hug her. The optical disk and case were in Haymitch's hand, barely visible and for only a second; Haymitch tucked the optical disk and case into the back of the waistband of Mags's pants. Mags's coat hid the handover.

Mags nodded slightly. _Item received_.

Haymitch murmured in Mags's ear, "The kids both want to join up."

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

Peeta noted that the old woman who had attended the District Four mayor's dinner was sitting in the middle of the couch; Haymitch was standing by the couch and was talking to her.

Haymitch called over to Peeta and Prim, "Kids, here is someone I want you to meet."

Curious, Peeta came over, with Prim joining him. It turned out that the old woman, Mags Flanagan, was the Victor of the Eleventh Hunger Games and the founder of District Four's Secret Academy.

Mags patted the couch next to her and said to the Co-Victors, "Cuh ssi bah mmm."

Peeta said, " _What?_ "

Mags picked up her writing pad and wrote on it, COME SIT BY ME.

Haymitch explained, "She's had a stroke, but she can still write okay. She's very curious about you two."

Prim asked Mags, "You're curious about _us?_ "

VERY CURIOUS. PLEASE SIT.

Prim and Peeta sat down on the couch on either side of Mags.

Haymitch said, "Kids, Mags is gonna get writer's cramp if she's the only one writing stuff, yeah? So when you 'talk' with her, you should _write_ your stuff, same as her."

"No problem," Peeta said. Then he smacked his forehead. He picked up Mags's pad and wrote, SORRY. NO PROBLEM.

Prim was holding her hand out for the pad and pen. When she was handed them, she wrote, WHAT SHALL WE TALK ABOUT?

Mags's answer was quick to be written: HAYMITCH THINKS YOU WANT TO JOIN THE REBELLION.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Mags did nothing while both Peeta and Prim stared at the written words. Then Mags tore the top sheet of paper off the pad, wadded the paper into a ball, and threw the paper to land on a burning log in the fireplace.

Peeta realized: _Burning the paper means we can be honest_.

Haymitch said, "Kids, I'm gonna go talk to some Four Victors I don't often get a chance to talk to, so I'll leave you in Mags's good hands. Mags is _good people_ and someone I trust."

Then Haymitch tapped one of his ears and looked meaningfully at the ceiling. _Be careful what you say_.

Prim and Peeta watched Haymitch walk away, then watched Haymitch slap the shoulder of a man in his forties.

Prim wrote, I WANT TO BE A DOCTOR. I THINK I COULD BECOME A GOOD DOCTOR. BUT ONLY CAPITOLS ARE ALLOWED TO BE DOCTORS.

Peeta wrote, KATNISS WILL BECOME A COAL MINER IN A YEAR AND A HALF. SHE'S NOT ALLOWED TO BECOME ANYTHING ELSE. IS THIS FAIR?

NO! Mags wrote, in huge letters.

This sheet of paper was likewise torn out, balled up, and thrown on the fire.

Mags tapped the pen against her lips, then she nodded, as if coming to a decision. She wrote, WHAT DO YOU TWO KNOW ABOUT THE SECOND REBELLION?

* * *

 **Fifteen minutes later**

Peeta and Prim were staring at each other in shock. Snow had told them "In a few districts are some eccentrics and malcontents who wish to start another rebellion"; but just now, Mags had told the Co-Victors that ordinary people in every district were Rebels, and _almost_ every Victor was a Rebel. In fact, the only Victors who were _Loyalists_ were in District One and District Two.

Prim's face showed surprise, then she wrote, DISTRICTS ONE AND TWO ARE LOYAL BECAUSE THEY'RE FAVORED BY THE CAPITOL. FOUR IS FAVORED TOO. BUT YOU TELL ME THAT THERE ARE NO CAPITOL-LOYAL FOUR VICTORS. HOW CAN YOU BE SURE?

Mags wrote in reply, BECAUSE EVERY D04 VICTOR BEFORE THE 70TH HG WAS TRAINED BY ME, AND I TELL THEM WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE BEFORE THE TREATY OF THE TREASON. THE CAPITOL HAS ROBBED US ALL!

* * *

 **Fifteen minutes later**

Haymitch saw Mags toss one last paper-ball into the fire.

After mumbling goodbyes to Peeta and Prim, Mags, with her paper and pen and her cane, hobbled from SurfEllen's couch to SurfEllen herself. The old Victor and the young Victor spoke briefly; Haymitch heard Mags say something like _shrew_. Then Mags hobbled to SurfEllen's front door.

At the front door, four District Four Victors reached into Mags's open coat and hugged her goodbye; only then did she button her coat, wave goodbye, and hobble out the door.

By then, Haymitch was sure, the optical disk was no longer in Mags's waistband.

* * *

 **One second later**

Peeta and Prim still sat on the couch that was near the fireplace. Prim seemed to be as much in shock, from everything she had just learned, as Peeta felt.

SurfEllen the hostess spoke briefly with the man in his forties whom Haymitch had earlier spoken with; then SurfEllen and the man walked over to Peeta and Prim.

SurfEllen said, "This is Hammerhead Oleery, Victor of the Forty-eighth Hunger Games. He grows mushrooms in his basement. Primrose, Mags suggested you would like to see his operation, since you make cheese."

Peeta looked over at Haymitch, who was watching closely. Haymitch pointed at Peeta, then made a "sweeping" motion with his hand toward the front door.

Peeta said, "I'll go with y'all if that's okay. I like mushroom sauce on steak."

Hammerhead laughed. "You're a mind-reader. I grow fourteen kinds of mushrooms, and that is one of them."

* * *

 **Two minutes later**

Hammerhead Oleery indeed grew mushrooms in his basement—one-third of his basement. The rest of his basement was devoted to war-gaming.

On fourteen tables were representations of each of Panem's thirteen districts plus the Capitol. While Districts Ten, Eleven, and Thirteen were represented by big flat maps, all the other districts were represented three-dimensionally, with sculpted ground and tiny wooden buildings. No surprise, the sculpture-map for District Four was the most detailed.

Peeta and Prim hurried over to the District Twelve sculpture-map. Peeta exclaimed, "Wow, Prim, Mellark's Bakery, the high school, and Victors' Village, they're all here!"

Prim nodded. "I can point to our old Seam house."

Peeta turned to face Hammerhead. Pointing "north" to the flat map of District Thirteen, Peeta said, "What do you do with District Thirteen in your war games? Hide people and stuff in Thirteen where the Capitol won't see?"

Now Hammerhead was sitting at a computer, putting a little optical disk into a disk tray. Hammerhead looked up from this task to answer, "District Thirteen is not dead like the Capitol tells us. But how much Thirteen can help us, or if they're even willing to help at all, we're not sure."

Peeta breathed, "Thirteen is _alive?_ "

Hammerhead shrugged. "They are, but the war-gaming assumes they'll stay out of the fight. Sorry, I know you're curious, but the guy who knows the most about District Thirteen isn't in District Four."

Prim asked, "Where's he at? What's his name? Will he let me talk to him?"

Hammerhead looked at the Co-Victors with a solemn face. "Primrose, all I'll tell you is that he lives somewhere outside District Four. I won't tell you his name. _What you don't know, you can't reveal under torture_."

Peeta and Prim exchanged a look.

Peeta asked, "So how exactly do you war-game?"

By Hammerhead's computer was a cart on wheels. Hammerhead pulled something from the top of the cart and tossed it toward Peeta; Hammerhead tossed another small object toward Prim. What Peeta wound up holding was a wood-carving of a man holding a rifle and standing on a pedestal. The little rifleman was painted red, with _100_ painted on the pedestal in yellow. What Prim held was a similar woodcarving of a man holding a rifle, but painted white; the _100_ was painted in black.

Hammerhead said, "It's not that we don't trust you two, but I removed all the figurines from the maps and the sand tables before Mags talked to you. I'm sure you're curious what we estimate Rebel troop strength to be in District Twelve, but if you don't know, you can't be persuaded to tell Coriolanus."

Peeta said, "Sure, that makes sense."

Hammerhead continued, "What I do here is that I game against a Victor in Two who knows Peacekeeper strategy and tactics. She—I mean, the Victor in Two acts like the Supreme Commander of Capitol forces, and that Victor tries to destroy all the Rebel forces. Meanwhile, I act like the Supreme Commander of Rebel forces, and I try to destroy all Capitol forces."

Prim asked, "And how do these war games turn out?"

Hammerhead laughed. "The truth? I always lose, except for one battle where I ignored reality. _In_ reality, I can command only one hovercraft, which I can get my hands on only by trickery."

Prim said, "Trickery which you won't explain to us, so we don't blab to Snow's torturers."

"Right, sorry. Anyway, if the Rebels have only one hovercraft, we can't help but lose. So if Thirteen doesn't come in, or doesn't come in with a matching count of hovercraft, we are _fornicated_ if the Second Rebellion happens for real."

Peeta looked at Prim. "Damn."

Hammerhead said, "On the other hand, I'm getting better. When I first started war-gaming, the Two Victor kicked my butt—but a few months ago, I fought a pretend-battle against the Peacekeepers where they had _zero_ hovercraft support. The pretend-battle was just Peacekeepers with guns against Rebels with guns _and fishing boats_ , and I _won_."

Hammerhead grinned like the shark he was named after.

* * *

 **A half-hour later**

Twelve's three Victors were back on the tribute train.

Haymitch was almost sober, which had amazed the kids.

Now Haymitch stood outside the door to Effie's berthing compartment. Very quietly, he knocked.

Very quietly, Effie said, "Come in."

Effie, as expected, was in bed, and she was wearing clothing appropriate for a bed. But she had lied a little: she was _not_ wearing pajamas.

Effie was wearing sky-blue lingerie to match her sky-blue wig and dark-blue lipstick. Effie was biting her dark-blue lip; Haymitch figured Effie was nervous. After all, she and Haymitch had not had sex before.

Haymitch stared. "Wow, Effie, you're _beautiful_."

"I'm beautiful-beautiful, or I'm beautiful _for a Capitol?_ "

"Well..."

"Never mind, I'll take what I can get. Please come to bed and kiss me."

Haymitch smiled as he began to unbutton his shirt.


	27. Victory Tour, Part 3

**Chapter 27**  
 **Victory Tour, Part 3**

For the Twelve team on their Victory Tour, after District Four came District Three, where electronic devices were made. District Three was fascinating to both of the Co-Victors, because it was so utterly different from District Twelve. But the Victory Tour _in_ District Three was by the book, not at all fascinating or exciting.

In contrast to Three, Prim expected her time in District _Two_ to be _very_ exciting (so to speak), because Clove Fuhrman was from Two—Clove, the same girl whose blood vessels Prim had sliced in two during the Bloodbath.

Now as the tribute train pulled into the District Two train station, Prim felt dread. Things probably were about to get ugly.

* * *

 **Seconds later  
At the District Two train station**

By now, Peeta had learned to recognize a new district's Capitol Liaison by sight: a man _in_ the district but not _of_ the district, he wore only Capitol fashions, sometimes ridiculously styled. Similarly, Peeta had learned to recognize a new district's mayor by sight: the mayor always wore toned-down Capitol fashions, combined with at least one item of the district's clothing. (For instance, the mayor of District Ten always wore Ten's distinctive hat everywhere outdoors.)

When the tribute train arrived in a new district, some local Victors always met the train. It amused Peeta that Prim always could name all the greeter-Victors _before_ introductions, because Prim watched "Victors Tonight" so much. Peeta, however, _needed_ the introductions to know which Victors he was talking to, unless a particular Victor was famous or had been crowned after the Sixty-fourth Games.

In the crowd at Two's train station that met the Twelve train, Peeta saw a woman. Peeta did not need to look at her clothing to know that she was a Victor, not the Capitol Liaison or the mayor. The woman was taller than Peeta; she had a man's short hair (naturally blond), and shoulders almost as wide as a man's. Peeta was _sure_ that this woman, whoever she was, not only could beat every female Victor in Panem at wrestling, this woman also could outwrestle Beetee Latier.

As the train doors opened and the Twelve team stepped onto the train-station platform, Peeta murmured to Prim, "Who is _she?_ Not Enobaria, the other woman."

But it was Haymitch who answered. "That's Lyme Sahad, Fifty-sixth Games."

Prim said, "It's Lyme who sent Peeta and me the granite nameplate, right?"

Haymitch said, "Bingo. Be nice to her, kids. She's a jewel, even among our merry band of ... Victors."

Peeta gave Haymitch a surprised look—was Haymitch saying this Two Victor was a Rebel? Then Peeta wondered, _Is this the Victor woman from Two whom Hammerhead war-games against?_

By now the District Two group had walked across the train-station platform to meet the three Twelve Victors plus Effie. Peeta noticed that Enobaria looked like she would prefer to clean a hot bakery oven over meeting the Twelves; but Brutus and Lyme were watching the new Co-Victors with interest.

A minute later, amid all the required pleasantries, Lyme abruptly asked Peeta and Prim, "So did you two get a chance to meet my friend Hammerhead in Four?"

Prim said, "Yes, we got to see his basement, uh..."

Peeta said, "He grows very tasty mushrooms."

Lyme laughed an unladylike laugh. "It's very easy, a Victor growing mushrooms, because Victors are _like_ mushrooms." Lyme did not explain her statement, but Peeta remembered the joke, _People in District Twelve are like mushrooms. We're kept in the dark and fed bullshit_.

Now Peeta saw Two's Capitol Liaison shoot Lyme a disapproving look, which Lyme shrugged off.

Haymitch said, "Hey Lyme, tonight"—at the mayor's dinner—"when we Twelves are sitting at the hoity-toity table, you'll sit with us, yeah?"

Effie murmured, " _Manners_ , Haymitch!"

The mayor said, "Not a problem, Mister Abernathy."

* * *

 **Fifteen minutes later  
Near Public Square Number 1, District Two**

The last two times Prim had been this nervous had been Reaping Day and Launching Day.

But Prim was a Victor now. So, while trying not to let her nervousness show, she and Peeta, then Haymitch and Effie, stepped out of Two's Justice Building.

From the other side of the local Square, Prim heard a man's voice yell, "PEACEKEEPERS, ATTENTION! PORT ARMS!"

The Peacekeepers at the edge of the Square in Two were only a third of what they'd been in District Eleven; and Two's Peacekeepers were not wearing helmets. But as the Twelves had walked outside, the local Peacekeepers had been holding their rifles in a "Ready" position, in front of their waists.

( _Why are they holding rifles, not riot batons?_ Prim worried.)

But now, with the man's yelled command, the Peacekeepers all stiffened their posture, then they brought the barrels of their rifles up so that the rifles lay diagonally across their chests.

Prim did not understand what she had just seen. But she had seen on holo that Peacekeepers held their rifles this way only at ceremonies with President Snow nearby.

Prim's first thought was, _Who told the Peacekeepers to do this? And why?_

Prim looked across the Square at the platforms where Two's tributes' families stood. Under Cato's giant photograph stood a man, woman, and teen boy—no surprise there. But under Clove's photograph, Prim saw something she had never seen before—

Standing on Clove's platform were a boy and a girl, both dark-haired. But behind these children stood not _two_ adults, but _three_. The man on the left and the woman in the middle clearly were Clove's parents—they each halfway looked like her photograph. But the man on the right looked like a male version of Clove's mother, and he was a generation older than her. This was Clove's grandfather, then.

Clove's grandfather was only a little taller than average, but he was as muscular as Brutus. He wore well-tailored clothes, and his graying hair was cut in a Peacekeeper hairstyle.

It was Clove's grandfather who had ordered the Peacekeepers in the Square to hold their rifles diagonally, and all the Peacekeepers had instantly obeyed. _What is going on?_ Prim wondered.

Meanwhile, Peeta had stepped up to his microphone. "Hello, District Two! It's a beautiful day today, isn't it?" (Peeta was making a joke. The wind was biting cold, and everyone was wearing heavy coats.)

Prim was still worried; now she was also puzzled. Distracted by the thoughts in her head, she said, "Uh, hello, people of Two."

Peeta gave Prim a sidelong look, then Peeta proceeded to give his own speech and most of Prim's.

While Peeta talked, Prim looked out at the crowd.

* * *

Away from the front, Prim saw ordinary men, women, and children. Many of the adults wore work clothes (because they were quarry workers?) Some adults had Peacekeeper haircuts. A few of the adults looked prosperous. If someone was standing in the Square, he or she was a district resident, not a Capitol, but many of the prosperous District Two men and women looked like Capitols—they displayed colorful clothes, head tattoos, colored wigs, and other Capitol excesses.

Prim thought, _If any District Twelve merchant dressed like a Capitol, he or she would be run out of town. Even Peeta's Capitol-loving mother does not dress like this_.

Near to Two's Justice Building porch where Peeta was speaking (and where Prim was imitating a potted plant), some children and teenagers stood in front of the other District Two residents. On the left side of the front, the boys and girls all wore white overcoats with "PKA" embroidered on the coat's left breast; these children all had Peacekeeper-regulation haircuts. On the right side, the boys and girls all wore black overcoats with a red question-mark on the coat's left breast. Prim figured out that she was looking at cadets from the Peacekeeper Academy, and at learners from Two's Secret Academy that trained Career tributes.

The odd thing was, the cadets' and learners' faces did not show anger and hatred whenever they looked at Prim the killer of Clove. Instead, the cadets' and learners' faces looked ... _respectful?_

* * *

 **Minutes later**

Since nobody in District Two wanted to hear _Peeta_ explain why Prim had pulled the nightlock-berries stunt, Prim could not escape _some_ speechmaking.

After Prim told the Twos about the nightlock berries, Peeta said, "Thanks for listening to us." With this, the Co-Victors' speech ended.

What Prim _expected_ to happen next was that the mayor of Two would step up to the microphone and would make closing remarks.

What _actually_ happened next was—

Clove's grandfather yelled, "PEACEKEEPERS! PEACEKEEPER CADETS! PRESENT ARMS!"

All the Peacekeepers who were holding their rifles diagonally across their chests, now moved the rifles so that each Peacekeeper held the rifle in front of him, its barrel pointed straight up, and with his two cupped hands holding the rifle by the barrel; each Peacekeeper's eyes looked straight ahead.

Meanwhile, off-duty Peacekeepers in the crowd, and the Peacekeeper-cadets in the front, all were _saluting_. Belatedly Prim realized that Clove's grandfather also was saluting.

Then, as if things weren't strange enough, an eighteen-year-old boy in a black-and-question-mark overcoat yelled, "LEARNERS, SALUTE!" Now the Secret Academy boys and girls were likewise saluting Prim and Peeta.

Behind Prim, Haymitch murmured, "Peeta and Prim, they expect you to salute back."

Which Prim promptly did, right next to saluting Peeta. As soon as Prim saluted, Clove's grandfather ordered "PORT ARMS," the Peacekeepers with rifles went back to holding their rifles diagonally across their chests, and everyone in the Square who had been saluting, stopped.

Prim was confused. _Why did they do this? Why aren't they throwing rotten eggs at me?_

* * *

 **Hours later  
At the District Two mayor's dinner**

It was Lyme who explained what had happened in the Square. "Primrose, what you gave to Clove at the Bloodbath was an excellent kill. No waste, and she was dead in less than ten seconds. It takes _years_ at the Secret Academy to learn how to kill so well, and how to block an opponent's attack so quickly, and you did it all _instinctively_. Then, once Clove had died, you _saluted_ her. This shocked everyone in Two, because we _know_ what the outer districts think of volunteer tributes from here. Anyway, in the arena you honored Clove two different ways, so today Peacekeeper General Marcus and the Secret Academy both honored _you_."

" _Who?_ " Prim asked.

Peeta asked, "Marcus is the short-haired man who was standing under Clove's picture, right?"

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

Peeta had become certain that Lyme was the Rebel war-gaming "Peacekeeper Supreme Commander," after Lyme had mentioned that she had sought out a job teaching at the Peacekeeper Academy.

Now during the dinner, Two's mayor, Two's Capitol Liaison, and Lyme were discussing why the districts has lost the war during the (first) rebellion, a.k.a. "the Dark Days." Five other Victors (Brutus, Enobaria, Haymitch, Peeta, and Prim) and Effie were staying momentarily silent as the others talked.

Lyme was saying, "Want to know what _shocked_ me when I learned it? During the Dark Days, the rebels had _more_ men under arms than did the Capitol. _Many_ more men. It made me wonder, How could they have lost? Well, I did research, and now I have the answers."

The Capitol Liaison said dismissively, "The _only_ things that those ruffians had going for them was what District Thirteen gave them. When Thirteen was nuked, the rebels were doomed—and _deservedly_ so, I say."

Lyme said, "The other twelve districts were doomed even before then. The Capitol fighters and Peacekeepers were united in command and united in purpose; but the rebel Supreme Commander had to do a whole lot of 'Pretty please, pretty please' to get _any_ rebel troops out of their home district. Basically, each district fought only to protect itself."

Prim said, "Haymitch told us on the trip to the Capitol that if you fight only defensively, you will _always_ lose."

Enobaria said, "Wow, I agree with _Haymitch?_ " She grinned her gold-fanged grin. "The only way to win the crown is to go _hunting_."

Brutus said, "But the outer districts still have not figured this out. Look, if another rebellion happens, you watch—it won't matter if the outer-district Rebels have guns or not—"

"If the next time is like the last time, many Rebels won't shoot at even Marksman-level," Lyme interjected.

"—the outer-district Rebels will hide in their districts. The Rebels of District A will refuse to run out and defend District B from attack, and they _sure_ won't themselves go attack Peacekeepers in District B. Long story short, just like last time, a 'battle' will turn out to be another turkey-shoot for the Peacekeepers."

Effie said, "Please don't sneer at people in the outer districts. Sometimes they surprise you." Effie smiled at the Twelve Victors.

The Capitol Liaison said, "If the districts rebel again, they will lose again, because the people with the best combat experience—Peacekeepers and inner-district Victors—are loyal to the Capitol."

Lyme said drily, "Why _wouldn't_ we be loyal? Look at everything the Capitol has done for us."

Haymitch said, "So tell us, sweetheart, what it would take for the Rebellion—the hypothetical S _econd_ Rebellion—to _win_ this time?"

* * *

 **One second later**

The Capitol Liaison choked. Everyone else at the table stared at Haymitch—though Peeta, Prim, and Lyme all were smirking as they stared.

Haymitch lifted his glass in a mock-toast. "Y'all, don't get your undies in a twist. It's the drunk asking, not some Rebel spy."

Lyme said, "To win, the Rebels would need to have a lot _more_ soldiers, and a lot _better_ soldiers, than what we now figure they could bring to the battlefield. But mainly the Rebels would need to be all fighting _for_ someone or something, not just fighting _against_ the Capitol. To win, the Rebels would need an inspiring person, or idea, or symbol."

A minute later, the topic of conversation had shifted to how "Primrose braids" were an unexpectedly long-lasting fad in the Capitol. Meanwhile, Peeta noticed that Lyme, who had gone silent during the discussion about hairstyles, spent much time studying Twelve's two Co-Victors who sat at her table.

* * *

 **Later**

After the District Two mayor's dinner, the Capitol Liaison offered to drive the Twelve team to the train station in his limousine. It was a kind offer: The temperature in Two on a February night was below freezing.

But Haymitch declined the offer, saying, "In Twelve, we're used to walking everywhere." Peeta suspected that Haymitch wanted a few minutes away from constant hidden-microphone surveillance.

So the Twelve team, after making their goodbyes at the mayor's mansion, zipped up their coats and set out for the train station. Lyme offered to walk with them.

Once everyone was outside, Peeta heard Prim say to Lyme, "I haven't thanked you yet for the very nice granite nameplate you sent us. It's very solemn."

Peeta echoed Prim's thank-you to Lyme.

During the walk to the train, Haymitch and Effie were hanging back and talking. Or rather, _Effie_ was talking and _Haymitch_ was listening. To Peeta, Haymitch seemed remarkably patient.

Meanwhile, Lyme spoke quietly to both Peeta and Prim: "You two _inspire_ people in the districts. Because you pulled the nightlock stunt and got away with it, because you were friends from the beginning, and because you _tell the truth_. You two could be the inspiration the Second Rebellion needs. Think about it."

 _Whoa_ , Peeta thought.

Prim said quietly, "I'm confused. I figure what you said at the dinner is what you think, that a second rebellion can't win. So why are you part of it?"

Lyme answered, "What I said, is true if the Second Rebellion started _today_. But District Thirteen could change things tomorrow. _You two_ could change things, and I hope you will. Coriolanus Snow could die tonight. In any case, life is so bad for the districts, I _cannot_ let things continue as they are."

Peeta said, " _Ahem_. I don't mean to argue with you, but compared to Twelve, the people in Two have it _easy_."

Lyme clenched her fists. "We _do_ have it easy—we are allowed to _pretend to be_ Capitols. But that's all it is, a _pretense_. Only a _Capitol_ may be president of Panem, only _Capitols_ can vote for the president—when elections are held!—and only _Capitols_ are completely spared the Hunger Games. Only _Capitols_ may freely travel. Where it _really_ counts, a Two woman wearing a purple wig is no better off than a black-haired woman covered in coal dust."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
In the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol**

President Snow was taking a telephone call from Pontius Pendergast, District Two's Capitol Liaison—

"Mister President, I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the new Victors are _much_ more popular than I expected. Because the new girl killed Two's girl tribute, I expected Twos to be barely polite to Miss Everdeen. Instead, Peacekeeper General Marcus and the Secret Academy both _saluted_ her. Twos saluted _both_ of them."

Snow replied, "Yes, I knew those two were popular. My granddaughter has been glued to 'Victors Tonight' since the start of the Victory Tour."

Snow did not add that Minerva had been _inconsolable_ two weeks ago, when "Victors Tonight" had _not_ shown Peeta's and Katniss's farewell kiss.

Now Snow asked Pendergast, "Anything else to report?"

Pendergast replied, "Tonight at the mayor's dinner, the topic of how exactly the rebels lost the rebellion came up. Lyme Sahad argued impressively well for the truth, that the rebels lost because they were both cowardly and poor fighters."

"Good for her. Go on."

"The topic shifted to how a second rebellion would go. Everyone who spoke an opinion, including Lyme Sahad, agreed that again the Rebels would lose."

"This is good to hear. Mister Pendergast, does your synopsis have a point?"

"Then Haymitch Abernathy asked Lyme Sahad how the Rebels could _win_ a second rebellion. One happening _now_. Oh, he tried to joke it off, but I could tell he really wanted to know."

Snow said, "Abernathy? Yes, he _definitely_ wanted to know. Anyway, what happened then?"

"Lyme Sahad answered the question, listing a bunch of things that can never happen."

"Mister Pendergast, this is important: What _exactly_ was her answer?"

Pendergast had not been trying to remember this part of the conversation; but since the words that Snow sought had been spoken only an hour earlier, Pendergast was able to recite them over the telephone.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

After Snow ended his telephone conversation with Pendergast, Panem's president stared across the room at closed burgundy-colored curtains.

Lyme Sahad had said, "[To win a second rebellion,] mainly the Rebels would need to be all fighting _for_ someone or something, not just fighting _against_ the Capitol. To win, the Rebels would need an inspiring person, or idea, or symbol."

Pontius Pendergast had reported two items of news to Snow, but the Capitol Liaison had not seen the connection between the two.

But Snow _did_ see the connection: Twelve's new Co-Victors, as popular as they were now, could be the "inspiring person, or idea, or symbol" that would enable a Rebel victory in the looming Second Rebellion.

Unless Snow did something to those two children ahead of time.

Snow stared at the curtains and thought hard.


	28. No Fun in the Capitol

**Chapter 28**  
 **No Fun in the Capitol**

Continuing the Victory Tour, after District Two came District One.

District One was where Marvel was from, whom Peeta had killed. If One did not throw tomatoes and rotten eggs at Peeta and Prim during the Victory Tour, neither did One call out for salutes or parade-ground rifle tricks, either.

After District One, only two stops remained for the Victory Tour: the Capitol, and District Twelve.

* * *

 **In the Capitol**

For Peeta and Prim both, the Capitol part of the Victory Tour was like being trapped in a nightmare and being unable to wake up—

The Co-Victors were surrounded by ridiculous-looking people, the Co-Victors themselves looked ridiculous, and everyone kept _touching_ them. Peeta and Prim each had the disturbing experience of a Capitol grinning like a mutt at the young Co-Victor and saying, "Oh, I _can't wait_ till I can get my hands on _you!_ "

Not to mention, the very idea of "vomit cola" had not become any easier to stomach (so to speak), six months later. Disgusted Peeta and Prim again saw much swigging of vomit cola by Capitols.

Things only got worse when, during the party in the Presidential Mansion, a bodyguard walked up to Peeta and Prim and said, "The president wishes to speak with both of you. Privately."

Peeta looked at Prim. Prim looked at Peeta. Each wore a worried expression.

* * *

 **Minutes later  
In the presidential office, the Presidential Mansion**

As soon as Peeta and Prim took seats in front of the president's desk, Snow got right to the point—

"My remarks are addressed to Mister Mellark; but Miss Everdeen, I think you will benefit by listening to them. Mister Mellark, soon after you returned to District Twelve, six months ago, you took Miss Katniss Everdeen out on a date. Your _first_ date with her, I believe?"

"Yes, sir," Peeta replied, as he wondered where Snow was going with this.

"You took her to the Community Home, which strikes me as an odd place for a first date, but I am sure you had your reasons."

"I did, sir, yes. District Twelve has no restaurants, so I had to improvise. I wound up paying the Community Home to cook a meal, and to provide a table, for Katniss and me."

"Young man, if _all_ that you had done was to pay them to cook a meal for _only_ you and your ladyfriend, specifying that they buy _only_ enough food for you and your ladyfriend, I would be praising you now for finding a clever solution to your problem."

Peeta thought, _Uh-oh, I'm not going to like what he says next_.

Snow continued, "Instead, Mister Mellark, your agreement with the Community Home specified enough food to feed _all the orphans_ , besides yourself and Miss Katniss. To top it off, you supplied five liters of chocolate ice cream that _only you_ could buy, because it was available in District Twelve _only_ at the Capitol Store; this chocolate ice cream was given out to _all the orphans_ as well as to you and Miss Katniss."

Snow paused and looked at Peeta expectantly. But Peeta could not guess Snow's point.

Prim said, "I would have done the same thing in Peeta's place, sir."

Peeta said, "Sir, do you know what the orphans _normally_ eat? Tesserae bread, beef tongue or chicken necks for meat, _damaged_ fruit and vegetables, and goat milk to drink. I thought, 'Hey, I can afford to go big, and shouldn't the orphans be allowed _once_ to eat a meal that _isn't_ Panem's leftovers?' "

Snow said, "Mister Mellark, it is not your task to feed the orphans, and it is not your task to remedy whatever lack you perceive in how they are fed. Should you contract for the same kind of grandiose meal again in the future, Miss Monescu's budget at the Community Home will be _reduced_ by the same number of PDs. Am I clear?"

Peeta said, "Very clear. But I hope you did not punish the Community Home six months ago, for the ... Prim, what did 'Victors Tonight' call it?"

Prim answered Peeta, " 'The orphanage first date.' "

Then Prim sat straight and looked Snow in the eye. "Mister President, 'Victors Tonight' thought Peeta had done a very romantic thing for Katniss."

Snow sighed. "As did Minerva. So no, Mister Mellark, the Community Home has not suffered for what you did. But if you want to help them in the future, I suggest you donate twenty PDs to them a month."

Peeta said carefully, "I may donate twenty PDs a month to the Community Home?" All three people present knew that, considering what a Victor's monthly Stipend was, twenty PDs a month was couch-cushion money.

Prim asked, "May Peeta bring food to the Community Home? Or may I?"

Snow said, "One liter of ice cream a month, apiece. Plus anything that either of you home-cook."

Prim said, "Thank you, President Snow," as Peeta struggled not to grin. Peeta's baking in his mansion's kitchen was as hardcore as Haymitch's drinking, so the Community Home was going to get lots of donated baked goods in the future.

Snow stood up then. "I'm glad we understand each other."

Peeta thought, _Okay, I can live with this. And here I was afraid that Snow was going to say something scary, such as threatening someone I love_.

Peeta and Prim walked almost as far as the door—

Snow said, "You probably did not hear about it, but after you left District Seven, a wild dog was found dead. Peacekeepers determined that the dog was slaughtered for its meat. A culprit was soon found: a teenage boy. He was a growing boy, and he confessed that he killed the dog because he was hungry. Since it was his first offense for _poaching_ , the Head Peacekeeper was merciful: The boy took only twenty lashes."

Standing next to Peeta, Prim sucked in her breath.

* * *

 **The next day**

At the end of their time in the Capitol, Peeta and Prim graciously allowed "Glorious Florius" Donaldson, their stylist, to leave the Victory Tour.

Florius had walked out of the Victory train only at the very beginning of the Victory Tour, to dress the new Victors in their mansions in District Twelve—and Peeta and Prim were both convinced that if Florius could have figured out a way to palm _this_ duty off on his assistant Larunda, he would have. As it was, whenever the Victory train had visited the other districts, Florius Donaldson had stayed aboard the train. Only when the Victory train had hit the Capitol had Florius and Larunda ventured forth.

On the train, whenever Florius and Larunda had eaten dinner with the Twelve team, the two Capitol stylists had barely spoken. It was painfully clear that Florius and Larunda had come to the Victors' dining car only for the food, not for the company of Twelve Victors plus Effie.

Anyway, Peeta and Prim, after wearing the ridiculous (and purple-themed) clothes in the Capitol that Florius had designed, _did not_ want this man deciding what the Co-Victors would wear when they returned to their home district!

So now Peeta and Prim offered to release Florius Donaldson from the final, District Twelve part of his contract. Florius quickly agreed. Haymitch, as the person who could hold Florius to the contract, agreed to the change, saying, "Whatever. I don't give a fuck."

It was _Effie_ who blew a gasket. " _Children, how are you going to dress up for your arrival in Twelve?_ "

Peeta shrugged. "We'll wear something already in our closet. District Three pants, a District Nine shirt, and District Four shoes, or whatever."

"But—but—"

Haymitch put his hands on Effie's shoulders. " _Breathe_ , princess."

As Florius Donaldson walked away from the Victory train for the last time, Peeta heard him mutter to Larunda, "The boy has _darling_ muscles, but I'm glad that during the next Hunger Games, those coal-grubbers will be _another_ stylist's problem."

* * *

 **Almost a day later**

When the Twelve team, including Effie, returned to District Twelve's train-station platform, this time the residents of District Twelve did not go crazy (unlike six months ago). But everyone was smiling at the Twelve Victors' return—even Medea Mellark was smiling.

Smiling Katniss gave Prim a long hug, and gave Peeta a quick kiss on the lips, to the cheers of the crowd.

(Peeta grinned, because a quick kiss on the lips in public was the Katniss-equivalent of any other girl ripping her clothes off and making passionate love to Peeta in front of everyone.)

Then Katniss surprised the just-arrived Victors: She led a choir of Community Home children in three songs. (Gamma Churchill sang an alto solo during one song.) It turned out that Katniss, who had at one time been deathly afraid of the Community Home, now had become its volunteer choir-director.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the Seam**

While 99-plus percent of District Twelve—not counting coal miners working shift—were greeting the returning heroes, two teenagers were nowhere near the train station.

Gale and Madge walked up to the empty shack in the Seam that was still technically assigned to Aloe Everdeen.

It took only two steps to move from the crumbling asphalt street to the doorstep and front door of the Everdeen shack. On a nail by that front door hung a key. With a practiced motion, Gale grabbed the key, unlocked the front door, and returned the key to its nail.

Madge hurried into the two-room shack. As soon as Gale was likewise inside, Madge shut the front door and latched it shut.

The Everdeens, when they had moved to Victors' Village, had taken only a few things. The shack's two beds, the bedding, the table, four wobbly stools around the table, the fuel-oil lantern and the cranky holoprojector that both were set on the table—these all had been left behind.

Gale lit the lantern—like every fuel-oil lantern that Madge had ever seen, the Everdeen lantern gave off a sputtering light. But its light was good enough for Madge to take a good look at Gale's face.

Madge sighed. "You're thinking about _her_. With Peeta."

Gale did not argue with Madge's statement.

Madge made her hips sway as she walked up to Gale. Madge did not wait for Gale to unbutton his shirt; she unbuttoned his shirt for him.

Then Madge unfastened Gale's belt and unzipped his pants. She shoved his pants down to his knees.

Madge said, "You need reminding: You're better off with _me_ than with _her_. Because _she_ would make you take up drinking, bad as Abernathy."

Then Madge knelt in front of Gale. "No lie, you are better off with _me_."

* * *

 **The next seven weeks**

Early February became late February, then became March. Winter became less harsh in northern Panem; trees began budding in southern Panem.

Once a week, Effie reported to Twelve's Victors on her efforts to find a replacement stylist. Effie was being choosy.

Peeta turned seventeen in early March. Katniss gave him a unique birthday present: her hymen.

March 20th, the day before the spring equinox, was Mandatory Viewing. President Snow would open an old envelope and would tell the nation exactly what kind of Hunger Games the Third Quarter Quell would be.

* * *

Coming next: **The Reading of the Card**


	29. The Reading of the Card

**Chapter 29**  
 **The Reading of the Card**

 **March 21st**

Even Victors were subject to Mandatory Viewing for something like this. For the Reading of the Card, the Everdeen family, plus Peeta and Haymitch, all were sitting in the living room of Prim's mansion.

Haymitch, who was sitting in the big blue chair, was holding a liquor bottle but was not drinking from it. Peeta remembered that the last time a quarter-quell card had been read, it had put sixteen-year-old Haymitch into the Games. Now Peeta was sure that Haymitch's temporary teetotaling would end on the _second_ that this latest card was read.

Peeta was sitting on the couch with the Everdeens, holding Katniss's hand. But alas, Katniss's attention was elsewhere—

Prim was holding (and was repeatedly stroking the fur of) her cat Buttercup. Buttercup was hissing at Katniss, who was insulting the cat.

"I'll still cook you," Katniss threatened.

* * *

 **One minute later**

On holo, Minerva Snow carried a big tasseled white pillow up close to the camera. On the pillow rested a wooden box and a gold-plated letter-opener. President Snow, his hands in white gloves, opened up the box. A smoky square blocked the viewer from seeing how many envelopes were inside the box. The president rummaged around, then took out one envelope, as he shut the box. He held this envelope up to the camera; the calligraphied _75_ on the front, and the yellowing of the envelope-paper, both were plainly visible.

President Snow, using the gold-plated letter-opener, opened the envelope. He removed the card. He lay the slit-open envelope, the letter-opener, and the card atop the wooden box. Now with his hands free, he slowly and carefully reached into his suit jacket, pulled out a folded pair of glasses, unfolded them, and pushed them onto his face.

Snow, wearing glasses now, picked up the card again. He began to read aloud—

 _To remind the districts that even the strongest among the rebels lost close family, only close family members of Victors shall be eligible for Reaping. In addition to the usual restrictions that only non-Victors of Reaping age shall be eligible for Reaping, only those children who are within five parent-child links of a Victor shall be eligible for Reaping. If this additional restriction would make ineligible all children of a given district and gender, then the usual Reaping ceremony shall be held for this district and gender._

 _The grandchild of a Victor is two parent-child links away from the Victor. The brother or sister of a Victor is two parent-child links away. The first cousin of a Victor is four parent-child links away._

* * *

 **One second later  
In Prim's living room**

"Well, fuck," Haymitch said. He uncapped the liquor bottle and took a long pull.

" 'Well, fuck' is right," Katniss said. She stood up at the couch, walked over to Haymitch, and held out her hand.

Without a word, Haymitch handed Katniss the bottle.

Katniss took a gulp, grimaced, and handed the bottle back.

"Germs," Prim said.

Katniss turned to face her sister. "Like I'm worried about _germs_ right now, Little Duck."

As Katniss returned to the couch, she asked loudly, "So who will be in the pens besides me and Yeast Mellark?"

As Peeta tried to work through Katniss's question, he noticed that Aloe Everdeen, who was sitting at the other end of the couch, was again and again counting on her fingers. Haymitch, on the other hand, was drinking from his bottle and was staring into space; his hands were otherwise motionless.

A few minutes later, Aloe announced, "I can't think of any boys or other girls eligible. Not who are related to Prim. I'm sorry, Katniss."

A minute later, Peeta said, "I'm bust too, except for Yeast. How about you, Haymitch?"

Haymitch, without changing his expression or his infinity-stare even a little, replied, "Don't know. Doesn't matter. Guess I'll find out on Reaping Day."

Katniss yelled, " _What the hell, you drunk!_ In case you missed it, it looks like I'm the _only_ name in the girls' Reaping ball! And Peeta's brother is the only name in the _other_ Reaping ball! If you've got a cousin or a secret love child who will be down there with us, how about _telling_ us, huh?"

Haymitch smirked. " 'Secret love child'? You think _any_ woman in Twelve wanted to go to bed with the district drunk, however-many years ago? But to answer your question, sweetheart—"

Now Haymitch's face shifted into killing rage. "Shortly after I 'won' the Second Quarter Quell, my mother, my younger brother, and my girlfriend all _died_. All 'unfortunate accidents.' What did those three people have in common? I loved them, and they loved me. As for my father, the only reason he didn't die that day was because the _fucking asswipe_ had already run off on his family when I was ten years old! Twenty-five years ago, I had an uncle and two cousins. I ain't talked to them since the three funerals. Because if I _did_ talk to any of them, they might be _dead_ by now, sweetheart, thanks to Snow arranging more 'accidents.' Anyway, I have no idea whether any of my relatives have kids now, or grandkids, or what their ages are."

Calmer now, Haymitch looked at Katniss and added, "If you _are_ the only one in the girls' pen, you have an advantage over regular tributes: Now you got three months to plan how you're gonna stay alive. Also, figure that over in the Career districts, most of the really scary kids won't be allowed to volunteer."

* * *

 **Seconds later**

The land-line telephone rang. Prim got up and answered it: "Hello, this is Primrose Everdeen. ... Oh hi, Tutty, how are you?"

Prim covered up the mouthpiece. In an excited voice, she said, "It's Tutilina Hopkins from 'Victors Tonight.' "

Peeta smiled in amusement. Prim, who was a long-time fan of "Victors Tonight," still got excited whenever she appeared on that show, even after nine months of being a Victor.

By now, Prim was back on the telephone: "So, Tutty, what can I—? ... Katniss? Yes, she's here. Why do you want to speak to _Katniss?_ "

From the living room, Katniss yelled, "Tell 'Victors Tonight' to leave me _the fuck_ alone! I have _nothing_ to say to them!"

Prim said smoothly into the telephone, "Katniss has no public comments to make till Reaping Day or later. ... Tutilina, calling back later won't do you any good, because I'm the only person ever to answer this telephone; you know this. ... Tutilina, you are not smart if you 'make up something' and claim my sister said it. I'm hanging up now, Tutilina. Goodbye."

After Prim hung up the telephone, she looked at the four people in the living room. " 'Victors Tonight' wanted to ask Katniss what she thought about the honor of being on the Reaping-Eligibles short-list for the Third Quarter Quell."

Haymitch snorted a raspberry. Katniss stuck her tongue out toward the telephone.

* * *

 **One week later**

Peacekeeper Lieutenant Cray—formerly Peacekeeper _Captain_ Cray—had been assigned the task of listing exactly who District Twelve's eligible tributes would be.

Of course Cray used housing-assignment lists for District Twelve that went back seventy-five years, marriage lists, and birth-registration lists; but if these had been _all_ Cray had used, he would have finished up the task in a day.

No, what made the task _challenging_ was when Cray threw in seventy-five years of DNA profiles and asked, "Who is related to whom, both publicly and secretly?"

(Cray was surprised to learn that four Twelves were his offspring. Two of Cray's four kids were of Reaping age. Cray wondered if his two Reaping-age kids would be Reaped if Snow ever found out.)

Anyway, Cray fed the computer the DNA profiles of Bitumena Churchill, Haymitch Abernathy, Peeta Mellark, and Primrose Everdeen, and looked for close-enough relatives.

When Cray got the cross-check results, he was surprised by two things. Cray was surprised that Haymitch had no illegitimate offspring; and Cray was surprised that Primrose Everdeen's true father was Pick Everdeen, not Cake Mellark (which was contrary to rumors of thirteen years ago).

The computer also suggested that Haymitch's DNA closely matched the marrow-DNA of male bones that had been found in the woods thirty years ago. Haymitch would have been eleven years old when this close male relative's corpse had been found. A little computer-searching revealed that Haymitch's father had been reported missing thirty-one years ago.

Cray considered whether to telephone Haymitch and to tell him that his "missing" father was in fact dead. But then Cray decided, _Nah, too much work_.

Anyway, when the computer program looked at the DNA profiles of everyone in District Twelve who had ever been Hunger Games eligible, and cross-checked those DNA profiles with the DNA profiles of Twelve's four Victors, the program came up with exactly three names of Reaping-age children who were very closely related to Victors—

• Billyjon Travis (Haymitch Abernathy's mother's parents' son's daughter's son);

• Yeast Mellark (Peeta Mellark's parents' son); and

• Katniss Everdeen (Primrose Everdeen's parents' daughter).

As Cray looked at the three names, he realized that Katniss Everdeen was certain to go into the Seventy-fifth Hunger Games as a tribute. Cray wondered whether Snow had engineered this result by Reading a fake Card.

Well, wasn't _this_ a fine thing! The president of Panem, who had demoted Cray because Cray _couldn't_ prove that he _hadn't_ rigged a Reaping, was rigging a Reaping the very next year, just to send Katniss Everdeen off to her death?

Cray laughed scornfully at Snow, because Cray had _seen_ how well Katniss Everdeen could _shoot_. Cray thought, _You demoted me for a_ _shit_ _reason, Snow, so I'm not saying a word of warning to you. You made your bed—three months from now, you're going to lie in it. I will_ _laugh_ _when you have to crown this girl_.

* * *

 **Hours later: after school  
Prim's mansion**

The front doorbell rang. Prim wondered who might be at the door, because she had already let Peeta into the house.

At the door turned out to be Yeast Mellark, and he was panting. "Hey, Prim—huh! Is Peeta—huh!—here? He didn't—huh!—answer the doorbell—huh!—at his house."

Prim gestured for Yeast to come in. "Yes, Peeta and Katniss are in the kitchen. Did you _run_ here, all the way from the bakery?"

"Yes, I did," Yeast replied.

Between pants, Yeast told Prim the story: He had just been visited by Head Peacekeeper Baxter. Baxter was at the bakery to officially inform Yeast that he was Eligible for Reaping in June—

"C'mon, tell me something I _don't_ know!" Yeast said to Prim.

—but then Yeast asked the Head Peacekeeper how many other boys were Eligible for Reaping. This was what Yeast was _desperate_ to know. Then the Head Peacekeeper said—

Peeta and Katniss stepped into the living room from the kitchen. Peeta said, "I _thought_ I heard my crazy brother's voice! Hey Yeast, what's up?"

Yeast said, "It's official. The Reaping in three months? It'll be just me and a Seam boy who's related to Haymitch."

Prim said, "Oh, that's terrible."

"No kidding," said Katniss.

Yeast said, "One good thing, though: It's a regular Reaping, except for there being only two of us. So I have only seven slips in the Reaping ball, while he has—the Head Peacekeeper wouldn't tell me his name or the number of slips, except to say, 'They're more than seven.' "

Katniss said quietly, "I'll have twenty-four slips. Of course, if my name is the only name in the glass ball, it won't matter."

Yeast blinked in surprise. "You're still taking out tesserae?"

Katniss shrugged. "These days I give the tesserae and the fuel oil to the Community Home. They need it more than I do. And right now, what difference will it make?"

The doorbell rang again.

Yeast said to Prim, "I'll bet it's the Head Peacekeeper, come for Katniss."

Sure enough. As soon as Prim saw Baxter on her doorstep, she said to him, "You want to speak to Katniss."

Baxter nodded, very solemn. "I have something to tell her."

In the living room, Baxter gave Katniss his news. Katniss asked the same question that Yeast had asked: "Who else will be in the pen besides me?"

Baxter said, "Nobody. I'm sorry."

"What about Madge Undersee?" Prim asked Baxter. "Her grandmother was a Mellark."

It was Peeta who answered: "Madge's grandmother was my grandfather's sister. Madge is six links away from me, not five."

Baxter nodded. "There was a girl in the Community Home who also came close. But again, she was six links away, not five."

"Thank you for coming, Head Peacekeeper," Katniss said. "Let me walk you to the front door." Hearing this surprised Prim, because when it came to manners, Katniss and Effie were usually worlds apart.

After Katniss shut the front door on Head Peacekeeper Baxter, Katniss walked through the living room—ghost-quiet, as usual. Katniss looked at Prim, Peeta, and Yeast, but she did not speak to them. Katniss glided into the kitchen, and stopped at the basement door. Katniss opened the door, stepped onto the basement stairs, shut the door, and moved down the basement stairs—so quietly that only the creaking of the wooden steps told Prim where Katniss was.

Then Katniss _screamed_. Pausing only to take a breath, Katniss in the basement screamed and screamed and screamed.

A minute after the basement finally went silent, Katniss reappeared at the basement door. She walked from the kitchen into the living room.

Katniss looked at Prim, Peeta, and Yeast. "I feel better now," she said. She shrugged. "Except now my voice is raspy."

* * *

 **An hour later**

Prim was again answering the telephone. Again the caller was Tutilina Hopkins from "Victors Tonight."

Prim was annoyed.

"How did you find this out?" Prim demanded. "The Head Peacekeeper was here only an hour ago! ... Yes, I will confirm that, the Head Peacekeeper's name is Baxter, B-A-X-T-E-R, and he did indeed tell Katniss that she is the only District Twelve girl Eligible for Reaping. ... I'm not going to tell you what Katniss thinks about now it being sure that she'll go into the Games. Katniss will have no public comments until Reaping Day or later. ... I'm not going to tell you what _I_ think, either! I have nothing to say at this time. _Goodbye_ , Tutilina!"

* * *

 **That evening, after dinner**

Peeta had noticed, as he had hosted the Everdeens for dinner, how distracted Katniss was.

Peeta well understood how Katniss must be feeling. He and Prim had been given only one hour to wrap their brains around the fact they were going into the Hunger Games; Katniss had _three months_.

During dinner, Peeta had expected Katniss to yell, or to weep, or to throw things—instead, silent Katniss acted thoughtful and entirely in her own head, as if she were working a complicated mathematics problem.

After dinner, when Aloe and Prim Everdeen were saying their goodbyes, Katniss instead held up a hand.

Katniss asked Peeta, "You have a holodisk of your Games, the 'Collector's Edition,' right?" It was the first that Katniss had spoken since she had sat down for dinner.

Now Peeta said, "I do, yes. Let me find that disk for you."

Katniss asked, "Can I watch it here, with you? And Little Duck, will you watch it with us?"

Prim looked sad. "Not a problem, big sister."

Then Katniss made an odd request of Peeta: she asked to borrow paper and pen, but she also asked to borrow the meterstick that he kept in his oil-painting room.

Once Katniss had paper, pen, and meterstick, she played the holodisk. But she paused the disk in odd places—

• During the tribute interview, when Glimmer was standing next to Caesar Flickerman, Katniss paused the disk and measured each hologram-person's height.

• Again during the tribute interview, Katniss paused the disk to measure the height of Hologram-Peeta standing next to Hologram-Caesar.

• During the reenacted Bloodbath, Katniss made scornful noises when Hologram-Glimmer shot an arrow at Hologram-Prim—and missed by a decimeter. (Real Prim and real Peeta high-fived.)

• Katniss several times paused the disk at moments when Hologram-Glimmer was holding an arena arrow. Katniss took measurements of the arrow's hologram-image, and sketched the arrow's fletching.

During this entire time of Katniss skipping around the holodisk and taking measurements, the only thing Katniss said as words was "You're 180 centimeters tall, aren't you, Peeta?"

"It's 181, actually," Peeta replied.

* * *

 **Later that evening  
Back in Prim's mansion**

Effie Trinket called Prim, all excited. It seemed that after "Victors Tonight" broke the news that Katniss Everdeen definitely was going into the Third Quarter Quell, an up-and-coming stylist named Cinna had called Effie and had volunteered to be Twelve's stylist. Effie had quickly accepted the offer.

Prim, telling the story, had never heard of this Cinna, and Katniss certainly had not heard of him. Katniss had only one question: "Do you think he'll send me out wearing only coal dust?"

* * *

 **During the next week**

Katniss spent every free moment that she could spare, in Haymitch's basement (which was a cornucopia of rusted hand tools). Katniss made five arrows that were the same diameter as the five half-arrows that Katniss had been given by the Co-Victors; Katniss's newly-made arrows were all the same measured length. At the end of the work, Katniss carefully removed the arena-arrowheads from the five half-arrows and attached those arrowheads to the five arrows that she had made.

When Katniss was finished, she explained to Haymitch, Peeta, and Prim—outside of their mansions, because Katniss was not stupid—"As best as I can work it out, these five arrows are the same size and the same weight, and shoot the same, as the arrows that Glimmer shot. The arena bow will be different than mine—I can't do anything about that."

Haymitch said, "Great job, sweetheart. I'm impressed. But what do you plan to _do_ with those arrows? Shoot Snow if he appears in the woods, yeah?"

Katniss said, "Target practice. Especially _quick-draw_ target practice. I expect to do lots of arrow-chasing in the next 2-1/2 months, which I haven't needed to do since I was eight years old."

* * *

 **Two-and-a-half months later  
The evening before the Third Quarter Quell Reaping**

This evening, Katniss had been amazed by the many Seam people—and also by Madge Undersee and Gale Hawthorne, visiting as a couple—who had walked out to Victors' Village to ring the Everdeen doorbell and to wish Katniss good luck in the Games. Katniss, who usually wore a wooden, unreadable face, was deeply touched by all the visitors and all the kind words.

When the doorbell rang yet again, Prim yelled from the top of the stairs, "Get the door?"

But Katniss's latest visitors weren't Seam. They weren't even District. Standing on the doorstep were Dr. Picardo and Nurse Antonia from the Capitol Coal Medical Clinic.

Nurse Antonia's skin, which had been lavender-colored a year ago, was now forget-me-not blue.

Katniss blurted out, "Good evening, Dr. Picardo. Did you come here to say goodbye?" Katniss did not ask, but she sure wanted to ask, _Why did you bring your doctor bag? And what is_ _she_ _doing here?_

Dr. Picardo replied, "Not goodbye, although Urbania told me to tell you, 'Good luck.' " Now Dr. Picardo looked sheepish. "President Snow ordered me to examine you before the Reaping."

Nurse Antonia smirked at Katniss. "I'm sure it's to make sure that tomorrow you can't claim"—Antonia shifted into a melodramatic voice—" 'Oh, I'm going to die horribly! You can't Reap me!' "

Dr. Picardo snapped, "Antonia! Act professionally."

Katniss stepped back. "Dr. Picardo, you are welcome in my sister's home." Then Katniss looked at Antonia and said, "Come in or don't come in; I don't care."

The two Capitols followed Katniss into the living room. Antonia looked around, then said sarcastically, "Huh, my tax dollars at work. Who did your decorating—a blindfolded coal miner?"

Katniss said, "Tell you what, _rainbow:_ _You_ outlive twenty-two other people, six of them trying like hell to _kill_ you, _then_ you come over here and give my sister decorating advice, _hm?_ But I'm sure that if _you_ went into the Games, you'd blow up on the pedestal, because you're so _stupid_ you'd forget to wait for the countdown."

Antonia said haughtily, "I'm from the Capitol, so I don't need to worry about the Games. Unlike _you_ , cannonbait."

Dr. Picardo sighed. "Listening to you two makes _me_ want to step off the pedestal."

* * *

Coming next: **Katniss is Reaped**


	30. Katniss is Reaped

**Chapter 30**  
 **Katniss is Reaped**

 **A half-hour before the Third Quarter Quell Reaping  
The Square, District Twelve**

Five people walked into the Square, all having come from Victors' Village. All five wore the solemn faces of mourners at a funeral—but only the Peacekeepers and a few onlookers were in the Square at 1:30 p.m. to see this.

Three of the five solemn people were District Twelve's three Victors. The other two solemn people were Aloe Everdeen and Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss was wearing a forest-green dress and shiny black shoes. She also wore around her neck a bronze medal with a white-and-black ribbon. Aloe had put up Katniss's hair into an elaborate braid.

Katniss was from Twelve's lower class, but now she walked with her back straight, her shoulders back, and her chin up, like a pre-Catastrophes queen.

Reaping-Eligible Katniss Everdeen was holding hands with Victor Peeta Mellark (on Katniss's left) and with Victor Primrose Everdeen (on Katniss's right). Primrose was wearing the gold Mockingjay pin on her blouse; Prim's blond hair covered her left shoulder in a single braid.

When the five people reached the spot that was beside the check-in table and was behind the steps to the Reaping stage, the five stopped walking. In silence, the Co-Victors let go of Katniss's hands. Katniss shook hands with a sober-acting Haymitch Abernathy; they spoke no words.

The three Victors then walked forward toward the Reaping stage, where Mayor Undersee and Effie Trinket sat solemnly waiting. Single file with Haymitch leading, Twelve's three Victors walked up the stairs.

* * *

 **One second later**

Prim tapped Peeta on the shoulder as they were walking up the stairs to the Reaping stage. "Remember the last time you walked these steps?" Prim was flashing back to her feelings of mortal fear and complete hopelessness from a year ago.

Peeta murmured back over his shoulder, "I'm trying _not_ to remember my Walk of Doom."

Before Prim took her seat on stage, she spoke instructions to Effie, what to do when Katniss was reaped. Effie listened and nodded.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

At the check-in table, Moss and Beana Tyndale stood waiting. The Tyndales each fiercely hugged their daughter Aloe, then they each fiercely hugged Katniss. Katniss mildly returned each grandparent's hug. Katniss exchanged hugs with her mother, then Katniss walked up to the check-in table.

This year, only a single Peacekeeper worked check-in. One boys' notebook and one girls' notebook were each open; each notebook held only a single page.

"I am Katniss Everdeen," Katniss announced. "Seventeen."

Without being prompted, Katniss held her right hand out, index finger extended, fingerprint-side up. Seconds after the sting, the Peacekeeper said, "Confirmed: Everdeen, Katniss."

By now, Katniss had a tiny drop of blood on her right index finger. The Peacekeeper tapped the one empty square in the girls' notebook. Katniss pressed her bloody fingertip against the whiteness inside the paper square.

The Peacekeeper closed the girls' notebook; the checking-in of Eligible District Twelve girls was complete.

Katniss hugged her mother and grandparents again, then walked to the girls' pen. This year, the four orange cones that defined the corners of the girls' pen, and the four cones marking off the boys' pen, were set much closer together—each pen was only 5 meters-by-5 meters. The boys' pen was empty. The girls' pen was empty, till Katniss stepped into it, under the watchful gazes of five people on stage.

Ten minutes later, Yeast Mellark stepped into the boys' pen. He looked like most of the eighteen-year-old boy Eligibles that Katniss had ever seen: frightened, but trying not to show it. Katniss and Yeast exchanged pleasantries.

Much time passed, and the Square was packed with onlookers, when a Seam boy stepped into the boys' pen. Katniss did not know him, beyond that he was two years behind Katniss in school. Now he looked over at Katniss and sneered, "That's a fancy dress you're wearing."

Katniss of a year ago would have ripped the brat's head off and spit on his neck. Katniss of now merely replied calmly, "This dress means a lot to me."

* * *

 **At 2 p.m.**

Mayor Undersee stood up, walked to the microphone, and gave the canned speech about the origin of the Hunger Games that he was required to give every year. Katniss tuned him out.

Then Mayor Undersee read out the names of Twelve's four Victors.

The first Victor to be named was Bitumena Churchill; Katniss realized that Gamma Churchill in the Community Home was related to Bitumena.

Katniss was surprised to hear that the applause for Haymitch Abernathy was enthusiastic, not brief and halfhearted like in previous years.

Prim and Peeta, as Co-Victors, got their names read off together; _their_ applause was loud and long, and Katniss even heard cheering.

Then Mayor Undersee took his seat, as Effie Trinket walked to the microphone.

This year, Effie wore a gold-colored wig and her skin was covered with gold dust. Her dress was gold, with many fake butterflies on it. Katniss, who had _zero_ fashion sense, wondered whether Effie was trying to send a message of some kind. Butterflies were pretty, but were almost completely useless; maybe Effie's message was _Look at me, I'm a Capitol_?

Effie made her opening remarks in a voice that was over-the-top cheery. Like in previous years, Effie showed the "special film, all the way from the Capitol"; like in previous years, Katniss ignored the thing completely.

Then Effie said, "Ladies, uh, first." Effie lost her cheery mask.

Katniss walked out of the girls' pen, and was climbing the steps to the Reaping stage, even as Effie drew a slip of paper from the girls' glass Reaping ball and was unfolding the slip. Katniss did not feel like pretending this was a fair Reaping; if Snow did not like this, fuck him.

Effie read out, "Kat—"

"Katniss Everdeen, right here." Katniss, now on stage, walked over to stand in front of the girls' Reaping ball, then she turned to face District Twelve.

Interestingly, the first person whom Katniss noticed in the crowd was a Capitol, not a Twelve. Urbania, the receptionist at the mine-company clinic, was standing behind the Twelve crowd, where only people on stage could see her. Urbania had a fierce grin on her face as she shook her fist, as if to say _You go get 'em, girlfriend!_

Meanwhile, Effie at the microphone was saying to Katniss, "You're Primrose Everdeen's sister, right?"

Katniss leaned toward the microphone and said, "Her _older_ sister. The so-called 'Primrose braid'? Prim stole it from _me_."

The crowd laughed; then a second later, they laughed again. (Watching the scene replay on holo, Katniss learned that the second laugh was because on stage, Peeta and Prim high-fived.)

Now Effie said, "That's a pretty dress you're wearing. Tell me about it."

Katniss said, "If you're asking 'Who's the designer?', I don't think it _has_ one! I'm wearing this dress to my Reaping because it means a lot to me. This is the dress, and these are the shoes, that I wore"—now Katniss turned to face the three Victors on stage—"on my Community Home first date with the _wonderful_ Peeta Mellark."

This time, Katniss was facing the right way to see it when Peeta and Prim high-fived. Meanwhile, the crowd was going _Aww_ and was clapping.

Just before the clapping stopped, Katniss turned to face forward again. "Effie, I have one more thing to say."

When the applause stopped, Effie said, "Go on."

Katniss fingered the medal around her neck. "Six years ago, Coal Mine Number 4 exploded. _Eight times_ my father, Pick Everdeen, uncovered miners and dragged them to the end of the tunnel to be rescued. Then the tunnel collapsed. After my father died, his family was given this medal. It's my district token, and I wear it proudly."

Again the crowd applauded. (On the replay, Katniss saw that Prim on stage was wiping tears from her eyes.)

Effie said only, "You _should_ feel proud."

* * *

 **A minute later**

The fifteen-year-old Seam boy, Billyjon Travis, was Reaped, as Katniss watched Yeast Mellark sigh with relief.

As Billyjon walked up the steps, he was glaring at his Cousin Haymitch.


	31. Coin Talks about Katniss

The internet is a wonderful thing, a marvel. How else could someone like me, who is part of the toilet-seat-up half of the population, find out how to walk in high heels?

Here's where I got my information—

[I am not allowed to post the links in FFN. See Notes in Chapter 31 of the AO3 version of this story.]

 **Chapter 31**  
 **Coin Talks about Katniss**

 **Two hours later  
Plutarch Heavensbee's office, the Games Center**

Plutarch had told his receptionist, "See that I am not disturbed." Nobody questioned this order, because the Reaping had ended in District One two minutes ago, and because Plutarch was now the Head Gamemaker.

Of course, if President Snow called, the call would be put through, and Plutarch would take the call—this went without saying. But Snow, himself a former Gamemaker, knew that right now _really_ was not a good time to call, so Plutarch was not expecting any interruption.

Just to be sure that Plutarch would not be interrupted, he locked his door, turned on his white-noise machine ( _Shhh_ ), and turned on his official bug-jammer. (This blocked all listening devices, including Peacekeeper listening devices, because the Head Gamemaker had to presume that bookies had bribed the Peacekeepers.)

With listening devices now asleep, Plutarch walked over to the table by his microwave oven and coffeemaker, on which two plastic cans of coffee were set. The coffee-can in front actually held coffee grounds.

But the can in back had not held coffee for months now. Plutarch took off its lid, and pulled out three things from the rear coffee-can: a Beetee Latier-designed bug-jammer, a palm-sized parabolic antenna, and a tiny two-way radio.

Plutarch immediately turned on Beetee's bug-jammer. For what Plutarch was about to do, bookies listening to Plutarch talk was the least of his worries.

Plutarch plugged the antenna into the two-way radio, aimed the antenna northeast, and turned the radio on. Very quietly, Plutarch spoke into the radio's built-in microphone: "Jolly Boy to Lost Sheep, Jolly Boy to Lost Sheep, come in, Lost Sheep."

Silence from the radio.

A minute later, Plutarch quietly repeated the call: "Jolly Boy to Lost Sheep, Jolly Boy to Lost Sheep, come in, Lost Sheep."

A woman's voice answered in flat tones, in a non-Capitol accent, "This is Lost Sheep."

Plutarch Heavensbee now was engaged in his eighth traitorous conversation with the mayor/president of District Thirteen, Alma Coin.

* * *

 **One second later**

"So how did the Reapings go?" Alma asked. "Any surprises? Any problems for us?"

Plutarch answered, "Pretty much what I expected. While all of the inner-district tributes are volunteers, the close-relatives rule walloped them—only one of the six is eighteen, and the boy from One is fifteen. Meanwhile, when Katniss Everdeen was Reaped, she gave a speech. Always before, only inner-district volunteers gave a Reaping Day speech. But Everdeen's speech was not at all like the Career-district version."

"How so?" Alma asked.

"Everdeen mentioned her beloved Victor sister, her beloved Victor boyfriend, and her father who died as a hero in a coal-mine accident. She mentioned neither the Capitol nor her district; she _certainly_ did not talk about 'bringing glory to the district,' which is in every inner-district Reaping Day speech."

"Does it mean anything," Alma asked, "that Katniss Everdeen gave a good speech?"

"It means that she's mentally ready for the Hunger Games. This counts for a lot. It probably also means that Everdeen has spent the last three months in weapons training, so that she's more combat-ready than she'd be in a regular surprise Reaping. Snow mentioned that Katniss knows some archery; in a few days, I'll see how good she is."

"Will she make it through the Games? Can she become the Victor?"

"Ma'am, without knowing what her weapons strengths are, I can't be hopeful. Plus, this year, the arena itself is deadly—it has many more dangerous traps than nightlock shrubs to kill the tributes. I expect to lose inner-district tributes to the arena, and I expect to catch flak for this. If Katniss Everdeen is caught in one of those traps, she dies, end of story. I won't turn off an automatic trap just to let her live—that's too dangerous for _me_."

"Does Katniss Everdeen face any dangers besides the Careers and the arena? From any of the other non-Career tributes?"

"Hoverkra Davenport from Six, who isn't related to a Victor—both of Six's tributes this year were chosen in full Reapings. Anyway, Hoverkra is eighteen and showed a 'Victor face'—meaning she looked calm and determined at the Reaping. If she's good with some weapon, she could give the bookies ulcers. Whether this helps or hurts Everdeen, who knows?"

Alma said, "Do all you can to help Katniss Everdeen win. We need her, along with Peeta and Primrose, for their propaganda value."

"I am more aware than you of the value of propaganda, ma'am," Plutarch said stiffly.

Alma ignored that. "When the Rebellion starts, Peeta and Primrose will be worth their weight in gold, so far as propaganda value goes: They became friends, they worked together to win, they refused to hurt each other when they were expected to, and they trust each other."

"Not to mention that Peeta and Primrose, on their Victory Tour, told the plain truth. The districts _love_ them for this."

Alma said, "Those two are the _perfect_ model for inter-district relations. Or course, they _are_ children, so before Peeta, Primrose, and possibly Katniss can be _really_ useful to the Rebellion, they will require a stern talking-to."

"Oh? A talking-to about what?"

"Primrose did not follow the rules at the end of her Games, and Katniss climbed the steps at her Reaping before her name was officially called. Those two need to learn more respect for the authority of those older and wiser."

Plutarch could not help the snort of derision he made. "Ma'am, if Primrose had followed the rules, either she or Peeta would be dead now, and the quote-unquote Victor would be blind in both eyes _and_ disfigured. This way, they're both alive, they're both healthy, they're both pretty, and they put one over on the Capitol."

Alma's voice was disapproving: "It is unfortunate that these results only rewarded Primrose's disobedience; such a thing only encourages her wrong attitude. All three of them are children; they need _firm guidance_."

Then Alma said, "But back to our original topic. Tell me your honest opinion: How will Katniss Everdeen do in the arena?"

Plutarch sighed. "The Careers will be targeting District Twelve tributes _first_ , and the arena is deadly. Unless Everdeen is Brutus with a Primrose braid, she's dead meat. Which is what Snow wants, I remind you."

Alma replied, "So we should plan on the girl who is Primrose's sister and Peeta's girlfriend to become a martyr symbol to the Second Rebellion, and Peeta and Primrose being united in their grief."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
In Billyjon Travis's berthing compartment  
On District Twelve's tribute train**

Billyjon was hugging the toilet, but spitting now, not vomiting. From the bathroom doorway, Haymitch asked, "Feeling better?"

"What do _you_ care?" Billyjon's sullen voice asked.

Haymitch replied, "I care because I did the _exact same thing_ a quarter-century ago—as soon as I boarded the train, I ate everything I could grab hold of, as if I would never see food again. Stuffed my face till I felt sick as a _fucking_ dog. I ran past the escort and the laughing District Two Victor who was our quote-unquote mentor, and I barely made it to my bathroom before I puked my guts out. Also, I care because ... as weird as it is for _both_ of us to think about, your ma is my Cousin Lynnda."

"Yeah, well, thanks for remembering," Billyjon said as he stood up by the toilet. "Which is new, because ever since you came home from your Games, you've acted like you had no family."

At the bathroom sink, Billyjon ran the faucet briefly, slurped some water from his cupped hand, spit in the sink, and tried to push his way past Haymitch.

Haymitch moved to block the boy's exit. "By the sink are a clean toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash. _Use_ them."

"Yeah? Suppose I don't want to?" Billyjon taunted. He tried, more forcibly, to push his away past Haymitch.

Haymitch _shoved_ the boy back against the bathroom sink.

"Suppose you walk back into the dining room with _vomit-breath?_ Then everyone will treat you like you're one of the crybaby, weakling tributes who everyone _expects_ to come from Twelve. And guess what? _Nobody helps cannonbait_ , but _lots_ of people will help a potential Victor. Which are you?"

" _You're_ supposed to help me; you're my _mentor!_ "

"Actually, _Peeta_ is your mentor; I'm here to mentor the mentors."

"Why don't _you_ mentor me? He's a Townie, _you've_ got more experience, and you _owe_ me, 'cousin'!"

Haymitch said, "Wow, 'You owe me.' The last time I heard those words was at a Capitol party. You sure you ain't a _rainbow_ in disguise, boy? Now, I wasn't kidding, I ain't letting you out of this bathroom till you use that toothbrush and mouthwash."

Two minutes later, Haymitch and sullen Billyjon were walking out of the boy's private compartment. Haymitch said, "The reason I've kept away from your ma and her family—I never visited, never gave y'all gifts—was to _keep you alive_. I ain't gonna explain about that, and I'm sure you think I'm bullshitting, but it's the truth. My point is, now that you're a tribute, I'll help you. But if you're gonna act like cannonbait, if you're gonna _think_ like cannonbait, even with me and Peeta and Effie busting all our asses, we can't help you _much_."

* * *

 **The next morning, after breakfast  
On the District Twelve tribute train**

The Capitol was only an hour or two away, so Haymitch said. Katniss pulled Prim aside.

"Little Mentor Duck," Katniss said, "I don't know who I'll ally with, except I want to talk to that girl from Six. But I already know who I _don't_ want to ally with."

"All six Careers," Prim said.

"Also Billyjon over there. I don't like him and I don't trust him."

"Oh, big sister, you're always so suspicious."

"And _you_ , little sister, are always so _trusting_. Billyjon insulted my green dress before the Reaping."

"Oh, Katniss—"

"Not to mention, he seems to think that just because Haymitch didn't hand sacks of PD coins to Billyjon's ma in earlier years, Haymitch _owes_ him, and Haymitch should _work magic_ to make Billyjon the Victor this year. And what am _I_ supposed to do meanwhile, lie down and let Billyjon slit my throat in my sleep? Not gonna happen."

Then Katniss's tone of voice changed. "Hey, Prim? Haymitch and Effie, are they a couple?"

Instead of answering _yes_ or _no_ , Prim asked, "Why do you ask?"

Katniss said, "Because now they're all touch-y and smile-y around each other when other people are around." Katniss blushed. "You know, like how you say _Peeta and I_ act in public."

* * *

 **Two minutes later**

Billyjon stomped up to Katniss and said, "Your loverboy says you don't want to ally with your district partner."

Katniss replied, "Seam people don't accept charity. _You_ not only _accept_ it, you _demand_ it." Katniss chin-pointed at Haymitch.

Billyjon growled, "You're gonna regret pissing me off."

Katniss replied coolly, "Not as much as _you_ might regret threatening me."

* * *

 **Ten minutes after the tribute train's arrival  
The Remake Center, the Capitol**

Effie introduced Haymitch, also _official_ mentors Peeta and Prim, to Twelve's new stylist, Cinna Harris.

Haymitch was impressed. The new stylist was not as flamboyant as Florius Donaldson; in fact, Cinna was less flamboyant than all Capitols whom Haymitch had ever met (except for Snow). The only thing that Cinna did that was Capitol-y was wearing gold eyeliner.

Cinna reminded Haymitch of Mattyu Undersee, who owned Twelve's clothing store. Both men were down-to-earth, quiet-speaking, and practical—except that Mattyu sold clothes and Cinna designed clothes.

An hour later, Haymitch felt smart for having good judgment, when Katniss said to him, Peeta, and Prim, "I trust Cinna. Which is strange, because I think he has something _wild_ planned for the Tribute Parade."

* * *

 **An hour and a half before the Third Quarter Quell Tribute Parade**

A man whom Peeta did not know, stepped out of the Training Center elevator on the twelfth floor, and stepped into District Twelve's living room. Haymitch introduced Peeta and Prim to the man, then introduced the man to the Co-Victors: He was Yarn Ross, one of Eight's two mentors.

The man pointed to the ceiling, briefly covered his ears, then said, "How about all we outer-district mentors walk together to the Mentors and Escorts Reviewing Stand? This way, you two new mentors can meet all the rest of us. Well, you won't meet the Career mentors, because they like to stay together."

Haymitch pointed to the ceiling and said, "That's a good idea. Considering how many cars, taxis, and limos are driving to where we're going, walking is actually the _fastest and easiest_ way to get there."

"Great," Ross said, "I'll meet you outside the TC's front doors at forty-five minutes before the parade." Then Ross walked back to the elevator.

Forty-five minutes after Ross's visit to Twelve, a group of people were waiting outside the Training Center. Peeta did not recognize all of them, but Prim told him that all these people were Victors.

During the walk outside, Ross informed the outer-district mentors that a year ago, a riot had broken out in District Eight during the Bloodbath of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games. After this first riot, more riots had followed. All of the mentors—except for Peeta and Prim—acted surprised to hear about Eight's riots, so it seemed that the Capitol's news-blackout of a year ago had worked.

Ross told the group, "The first riot started because Eights believed that the Head Peacekeeper, a piece of filth named Romulus Thread, rigged the Reaping against last year's boy tribute, Spool Paylor. One of Eight's people—I won't say her name—fought Thread and his 'bone-whites' to a draw, while she used _that_ battle as a diversion so that a 'sneak squad' could break into Thread's office and find proof of the rigged Reaping. Our District Eight heroine led two more attacks against the bone-whites—battles which Eight _won_. The bone-whites took back District Eight only when they diverted Peacekeepers from other districts."

Ross shrugged, then continued—

"Romulus Thread was executed by order of Snow. As for our District Eight heroine, she wore a disguise on her head during the raids; so after the riots, she went back to her regular job. A year later, the bone-whites _still_ have no idea who the woman was who kicked their asses."

* * *

 **Near the end of the Tribute Parade  
In the Mentors and Escorts Reviewing Stand**

The entire crowd of Capitols along the parade route, all the escorts in the reviewing stand, and most of the mentors were amazed by seeing Katniss and Billyjon in their chariot. Even Haymitch and Effie were talking excitedly about the two teens who looked like they were on fire.

But new mentors Peeta and Prim had different thoughts about Katniss and Billyjon, the two seemingly-aflame tributes—

Prim said to Peeta, "I think our new stylist decided he had to _outdo_ your 'Tower of Twelve' stunt from last year."

Peeta grinned. "That, or someone told Cinna what a _fiery_ temper Katniss has."

* * *

 **Day One of training  
The training gymnasium (Training Center basement)**

Katniss and Billyjon wore the same training outfits (designed by Cinna), but this was the only thing they had in common. The two Twelve tributes did not train together; nor did they eat together in the dining hall.

Billyjon tried to learn various weapons—except oddly, he avoided the archery station. Billyjon was inept at the weapons he tried to learn; but in fairness, all the other outer-district tributes bungled weapons just as badly—

With one exception. In the afternoon of Day One, Hoverkra Davenport from Six, who had acted calm and self-disciplined at her Reaping, surprised Katniss with how good the Six girl was at fighting against a trainer with pretend-swords (foam-plastic-covered sticks).

Katniss introduced herself, then complimented the eighteen-year-old girl. Hoverkra surprised Katniss with her reply: "It's nice to know I'm good at this, but if I get to the Cornucopia before anyone else, I won't try for a sword. I've asked my mentor to ask the Gamemakers to put a 40-millimeter wrench in there."

"A _wrench?_ You want a _wrench_ in the Cornucopia?"

"A _40-millimeter_ wrench. Very useful for fixing trains—or for the Hunger Games. It's about this long"—Hoverkra spread her hands 60 or 70 centimeters apart. "The steel handle is thick enough to block a sword, and if the wrench hits a Career's bones, I'll ruin his day for sure. And if I hit a Career in the _head_ or the _throat_ with my big wrench? Goodbye, Career."

Katniss grinned wolfishly. "I'm all in favor of getting rid of Careers. Last year, Marina from Four was nice to both Peeta and Prim; but this year, they're all assholes."

"Definitely," Hoverkra agreed. Then she gestured toward the pretend-sword station. "You want to learn swordfighting, while I watch?"

"Nah, I'm good. But thanks anyway."

Hoverkra blinked in surprise, then said, "I just realized, I haven't seen you at _any_ of the weapons stations—not even the _slingshot_ station. So either you're the stupidest person _ever_ to enter the Games, or you're _tricky_."

Katniss replied, "Prim told President Snow I'm real good at 'finding squirrels.' Maybe my plan is to find a squirrel, throw the squirrel in a Career's face, steal his weapon while he's fending off the squirrel, and kill the Career with his own weapon."

Hoverkra grinned. "Maybe. Or _maybe_ you're really good at some weapon, but you don't want the Careers to know till they get in the arena."

Katniss said, "I like you. You want to be allies?"

* * *

 **Lunchtime, Day Two of training  
The dining hall of the training gymnasium**

Katniss was eating lunch with Hoverkra Davenport from Six and with another ally, sixteen-year-old Stallion Morris from Ten.

Billyjon was _not_ sitting with Katniss or her allies. Billyjon was sitting at a different table, with the boy from Five and the boy from Eight. Which was fine with Katniss—the three tributes whom Katniss _really_ disliked, all were sitting at the same table.

By now Katniss had spent a day and a half in Hunger Games training, _not one minute of which_ was spent at any weapon station.

It seemed some people had noticed—and had jumped to the wrong conclusion. The entire horde of six Careers now stood up from their own lunch-table and walked over to Katniss's table. All six glared at Katniss.

Eighteen-year-old Quintus Reid from Two said, "Your Victor sister isn't here to save you, Everdeen, your Victor boyfriend isn't here to save you, and your hero daddy isn't here to save you. We owe Twelve for what Twelves did to us last year, so _you're going to die!_ "

"Be afraid of us. Be very afraid," said the fifteen-year-old boy from One. (Katniss had not bothered to learn his name.)

Katniss spoke calmly: "Can I ask a question?"

Quintus growled, "Yeah, what?"

Katniss raised her voice so that she could be heard by all twenty-four tributes: "Am I supposed to be scared of six _junior-varsity_ Careers? After all, _none_ of you would be the Volunteer-Designate in _any other_ year. Not to mention, I'm seventeen; and Quintus, you're the _only_ Career who's older than me."

"You're pretty stupid, never training at any of the weapons stations, cannonbait girl. We are going to slaughter you like a chicken!"

Katniss said calmly, "I think not. Then, after you have _not_ killed me, you _children_ should be worried that eighteen-year-old Hoverkra here will bend you over her knee and _spank_ you."

Next to Katniss, Hoverkra laughed. "What Katniss said. Back to your table, _babies_ , and eat your strained carrots."

The Careers glared at both Katniss and Hoverkra, then slunk back to their table—

—to the sound of applause from most of the outer-district tributes. (Billyjon and his ilk did not clap.)

* * *

 **Day Three of training, in the evening  
The training gymnasium**

"Katniss Everdeen," the robotic voice announced.

Magnus Reilly, the most junior Gamemaker on the Evaluation team, recognized the name as that of District Twelve's female tribute. District Twelve-Female being called meant that _her_ Training Evaluation was the _last_ Evaluation. Which meant in turn, Reilly realized, _Just fifteen more minutes and I can carve out a piece of that roast pig!_ Last year, the roast pig had been a hit, and Reilly was sure that the roast pig this year was delicious too—but Reilly was stuck here watching the tribute, instead of pigging out (so to speak) and drinking champagne.

 _But stuck here only for another fifteen minutes_ , Reilly thought with a smile.

Katniss Everdeen was a minor mystery to the Gamemakers. Last year, Primrose Everdeen had bragged that her older sister was really good at "finding things," which the Gamemakers had taken to mean that the older Everdeen had some kind of illegal weapon-skill. But would not Katniss Everdeen have taught this skill to her younger sister? Then would not Prim have shown off her own skill in this weapon for her Evaluation? But last year, it had been clear to Magnus that Primrose had never touched a bow and arrow till she had walked up to the training gymnasium's archery station.

Speaking of the archery station, this was the same station that Katniss Everdeen now walked up to. Since Katniss had avoided the archery station during Training—indeed, Katniss had avoided _all_ of the weapon stations during Training—Magnus had no idea what would happen next.

Katniss picked up an arrow from the rack of ten arrows, held the two ends of the arrow in her hands, smirked, and murmured, "I did good on the length." Magnus wondered what Katniss meant by this.

Katniss put the arrow back, then picked up the bow. She pulled on the bow a few times without any arrow. Then Katniss nocked an arrow and pulled on the bow twice more, but did not fire the arrow. Magnus figured Katniss was procrastinating.

Bored Magnus glanced over at the roast pig. He wondered whether the apple would still be in the pig's mouth when Magnus finally dismissed Katniss, or if the apple would have been claimed by—

 _THUNK!_

—a more senior Gamemaker.

Katniss had finally decided to shoot her arrow, while Magnus had been looking at the roast pig. Magnus turned his head to look at the archery target—

—and blurted out, "HOLY SHIT!"

Behind Magnus, the Gamemakers went silent, because—

—Katniss Everdeen's first arrow not only had hit the bull's-eye, her first arrow had hit the _center_ of the bull's-eye.

While Magnus was staring at that first arrow in the center of the target, Katniss shot her second arrow—then her third arrow. Arrows flew downrange at an _impossible_ rate of fire.

Katniss's index and middle fingers picked up a racked arrow between the fletching and nock. Those fingers fit the arrow against the bowstring, while laying the front of the arrow on the arrow-guide on the bow. Katniss's thumb pressed against the nock of the arrow, as her index finger and middle finger pulled the arrow back to its full length, with the nock near her eye socket. Surely Katniss aimed the arrow then, but Magnus noted no pause for this. Then Katniss released the arrow, and the result was _always_ this arrow hitting the bull's-eye.

And all this happened in not much more time than it took to sneeze.

When the ten arrows had all been fired, the target was completely empty except for the bull's-eye, which was solid with arrows. The bull's-eye looked like a bamboo grove turned sideways.

" _Fuuuck_ ," somebody said behind Magnus.

Katniss hung the bow back on its rack. She walked to the target, pulled all the arrows out, walked back to the rack, and returned all the arrows to their places on the archery rack.

Throughout all this, the Gamemakers said nothing.

Katniss nocked one arrow, which she aimed in the general direction of the archery target, but she did not bring the bow up. She said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I claim that I am better at my bow and arrow than all of this year's crop of so-called Careers are at their swords and spears. I'm sure you're thinking, 'She calls herself better than a _Career?_ In a pig's eye!' Which I answer—"

Katniss spun nearly a quarter-turn clockwise, as her right arm straightened out horizontally, as her left hand pulled the nock back. It all happened so fast that Magnus did not have time to feel fear.

Katniss released the arrow. _Splat_.

Where the roast pig's eye had been, now the arrow was sticking out sideways from the pig.

Katniss looked at Magnus and at the silent Gamemakers, saying sweetly, "I'm done. Unless you want me to shoot something else?"

Plutarch Heavensbee's voice, sounding dazed, replied, "Uh, no, you can go. That's nice shooting, by the way."

"I know," Katniss said.

* * *

 **An hour and forty minutes later  
In Twelve's apartment in the Training Center**

Only one Career, Quintus Reid, scored a nine as his Evaluation score. The other five Careers scored either seven or eight.

Katniss's ally Stallion scored an eight; Hoverkra, a nine.

Billyjon scored a four. Katniss scored a twelve.

Billyjon picked an argument with Effie—which quickly turned into an argument with _Haymitch_. Billyjon stormed off to his room, yelling insults at Effie, Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta. Prim tried to console Billyjon, and wound up having to listen to yelled rants for an hour.

* * *

 **During the next two days**

Everything that was on Effie's schedule boiled down to: Get Katniss and Billyjon ready for their respective Tribute Interviews with Caesar Flickerman.

To this end, the two tributes were tortured by their respective Prep Teams, and they were coached by their respective mentors about what to say in their interviews.

(Peeta confided to Haymitch that Billyjon openly scorned Peeta, and so Peeta suspected that Billyjon was going to ignore his mentor's advice and was going to loose-cannon his interview. Hearing this, Haymitch sighed. "It'll be bad for Cousin Lynnda if people in Twelve remember her son only as a brat.")

One other thing happened during those two days: Effie taught Katniss how to walk in high heels. Over Haymitch's heartfelt protests, Prim was also given this training—

* * *

Haymitch said, "C'mon, princess, the girl is just _thirteen_. That's too young to be sending the kind of message that strutting in high heels sends."

Effie replied, " _I_ wore heels when I was thirteen. Only around the house, true, but I wore them. As for Primrose, all of Panem watched her kill two tributes. She's not a little girl anymore, she's a _Victor_ , so you can't _dress_ her like a little girl."

Prim said, "Besides, high heels are _big-girl_ shoes. If I _can_ walk in them, I _will_. Effie, hand Katniss and me the shoes and _let's go!_ "

Katniss said, "Little Duck, I'm going to be generous and let _you_ have _my_ training. Since you have to look good on the red carpet and all."

" _No way_ , big sister! I'm going to learn how to walk like a lady Victor, yes, but you will learn right next to me!" Prim grinned. "That's an _order_ from your _mentor_."

Haymitch muttered, "I've created a monster." Throwing his hands in the air, he trudged to the far end of the living room and picked up his Peacekeeper Detective Lewis novel.

* * *

Effie took Prim's shoes and Katniss's shoes out of their shoeboxes. Effie showed the sisters the bottom of one shoe from each pair. "These are brand new—they've never touched a carpet, or a wood floor, or a sidewalk. Do you know what this means?"

Effie turned the two shoes sole-side down, and dragged them along the carpet. "These new shoes move easily along the carpet— _too_ easily. They are _slippery_. High-heeled shoes that are slippery might make you slip and fall down when cameras will catch you. Besides, slipping in high heels is dangerous."

The Everdeen sisters exchanged a glance, both of them amused by Effie's sense of priorities.

Effie opened her purse and took out a sheet of sandpaper. "The first thing you do after you bring home brand-new high-heeled shoes is to sandpaper the soles, to roughen them up." Effie demonstrated on Prim's smooth-soled shoe. "Now, you two do it." Effie handed the sandpaper to Katniss, who sighed.

* * *

Effie said, "Now ladies, when you're walking in flats, you don't think about how you walk. So you probably walk by putting an entire foot down all at the same time."

"I suppose," Prim said.

"But when you're walking in heels, you need to walk differently. You hit the ground with your heel first, then you push your foot forward and put your weight on the ball of your foot and your toes, then you push off with your toes. Also, remember that the higher the heels, the smaller the steps you must take."

Katniss burst out laughing then. "Well, _this_ part will be easy to remember!"

Haymitch looked up from his book. "What's up with _you_ , sweetheart?"

Katniss said, "Those same rules—don't walk flat-footed, walk heel-ball-toes, take small steps—are how you walk quiet in the woods."

Katniss pulled off her high-heeled shoes— _Way too eagerly_ , Prim thought—and walked barefoot on the carpet. Sure enough, Katniss's walk was silent.

Effie said, "Well! I have learned something today, ladies. Now, _if Katniss will put her heels back on_ , I will continue the lesson."

When scowling Katniss was again wearing shoes, Effie said, "Something that will make you look graceful in heels is to walk in a straight line, as if you're walking a tightrope." Effie demonstrated.

Haymitch said, "Princess, you didn't mention the _hip-sway_ part. I don't think I like you teaching a _thirteen-year-old girl_ how to _work it_."

Effie replied archly, "What these ladies are learning is how catwalk models walk. Who I assure you, _never_ 'work it.' "

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

Prim exclaimed, "Oh _wow_ , Katniss! You're _working it!_ "

Confused Katniss said, "What do you mean?"

Prim said, "You're doing all the things that Effie said to do—chin up, back straight, shoulders back, heel-to-toe, small steps, walking a straight line—and you look _sexy!_ As good as _Cashmere!_ When you walk across the stage to talk to Caesar Flickerman, Peeta will be in the audience, and he will be saying, 'Yummy, yummy, yummy!' "

Katniss was blushing, but she was also smiling. "So Peeta will like seeing me walk in heels?"

Haymitch muttered, "Great. _Katniss_ was supposed to keep _Prim_ from going overboard."

* * *

 **The night before the start of the 75th Hunger Games  
Before the Tribute Interviews**

Just inside the front doors of the Training Center, all twenty-four tributes were in line; they were all well dressed, and waiting for permission to walk outside. Luxuria from One was at the head of the line of tributes; while Katniss in front of Billyjon were at the end of the line.

Blond Luxuria called out, loud enough for all twenty-three other tributes to hear, "How many of the judges did you _suck off_ to get that score of twelve, Everdeen?"

Katniss replied back, "None."

Katniss stepped out of line and walked up to the front of the line. Katniss was taking small steps, but she was not walking sexy, she was walking like a forest hunter—even in 8-centimeter heels, Katniss crossed the floor in silence.

As Katniss walked, she said, "Because, Luxuria you slut, I'm not a _C-grade_ Career, _worried_ about my score."

Now appearing silently alongside the six Careers, Katniss said, "The night before the Games, you poor losers must be scared enough to pee yourselves, because you all know you _don't measure up_."

Quintus Reid said, "Tomorrow, Everdeen, you're going down!"

Katniss replied, "Shouldn't you be saying this to _Luxuria?_ "

The non-Careers laughed scornfully.

* * *

 **Monday night, near the end of Tribute Interviews  
City Center interview stage, the Capitol**

Caesar Flickerman's enthusiasm seemed to Katniss to actually be sincere: "Ladies and gentlemen, you know her as the 'Katniss' whom last year's Victors were 'fans of,' the district girl who outsang the Capitol's own Hermione Riddle, and the girl whose first date with Peeta Mellark was at the Community Home. She stunned us a few days ago as the 'Girl on Fire'—I give you _Katniss Everdeen!_ "

The crowd _roared_ , as Katniss sashayed from her seat that was next to Billyjon's, up to where Caesar was standing. Katniss's sexy walk was intended to make Peeta shift in his seat, _and_ to make Luxuria grind her teeth in annoyance.

Katniss's red interview dress had a V-neck, not only for the sexiness it added, but also so all of Pick Everdeen's posthumous medal could be seen.

Caesar began by asking Katniss, "Last year, Primrose told us that she loved you more than anyone, and Peeta told us that you love Primrose as much as she loves you. Was Peeta right?"

"Oh, _yes_. My sister Prim is caring, she's generous, she seldom gets mad, never holds a grudge, and is quick to forgive. She is the most wonderful person in Panem—but now y'all know this for yourselves, right?" Katniss paused for applause. "But just as much, I love my father, Pick Everdeen, and now I also love Peeta Mellark with all my heart."

More applause. After the clapping died down, Caesar said, "So tell us about you and Peeta."

"I'd rather not, because what Peeta and I have is still new and wonderful and _private_. I'd much rather talk about my father who, unlike Peeta, _isn't_ mentioned every night on 'Victors Tonight.' " The crowd laughed.

"So tell us about your father."

"Pick Everdeen rescued eight other coal miners after a mine explosion. He was going back for the ninth man when the tunnel collapsed on him." Now Katniss fingered the medal that hung around her neck. "He earned this medal, it says on the back, 'For Service to Panem.' And so it is with me: I want to give my life—and if need be, my death—for service to Panem."

Katniss wondered how many people would catch that she did _not_ pledge her life _for service to the Capitol_.

Whether Caesar picked up on this or not, he quickly changed the subject: "So tell us, because all of Panem wants to know: How did you get a _twelve_ as your Evaluation score?"

Katniss laughed. "Certainly the _Careers behind me_ want to know how I got a twelve. Considering that the best _they_ got was a _nine_." Katniss shrugged at their lack of skill, as she kept smiling. "Remember how last year, Prim told you that I was really good at 'finding things'?"

"Yes?" Caesar replied, clearly having no idea where Katniss was going.

"Prim meant squirrels. This year, I found squirrels and more squirrels for the Gamemakers till they'd had enough."

Caesar asked Katniss a question about Cinna Harris, her stylist. Katniss praised Cinna. The outcome of the Cinna questioning was that Katniss spun around on stage, which made her dress catch fire—to loud and long applause.

This was how Katniss's interview ended: with her red gown fake-burning. As Katniss stood up to return to her seat, she saw Haymitch give her a thumb-up.

* * *

 **Three minutes later**

Billyjon Travis's interview with Caesar Flickerman was a disaster. Peeta noticed—as everyone else noticed, surely—that while Billyjon _could have been_ introduced as the "Boy on Fire," Caesar did not say these words.

Peeta gave Caesar Flickerman points for trying. But Billyjon had no interesting skills, no interesting work, no interesting friends or family, and he was not interested in anything at school. Nothing about the Capitol interested Billyjon.

The interview basically boiled down to one long rant about how Haymitch Abernathy was a big meanie who never gave money to his cousin, who was Billyjon's mother. And by the way, Billyjon's district partner Katniss was a diva.

Around Peeta in the audience, Capitol people were muttering angrily at what Billyjon said. Peeta thought, _Well, it looks like I can_ forget _any sponsor money coming to Billyjon!_

Katniss's face on stage was scowling. The Careers' faces on stage were grinning. To Peeta's right, Prim was frowning; Peeta had seldom seen Prim frown. To Peeta's left, Haymitch's face was expressionless. On Haymitch's other side, Effie was patting Haymitch's arm and was wearing her fakest big smile.

Peeta felt sorry for Haymitch. Peeta did not feel the least bit sorry for Billyjon.

* * *

 **Slightly over half a day later  
Underneath the arena**

Katniss said goodbye to Cinna, then she stepped into the launch tube. Seconds later, the launch tube rose.

The first things that Katniss noticed, when she reached the top, were that the Cornucopia was surrounded by water, and that this water was divided up by slim stone spokes that were only 10 centimeters or so above the water surface.

The second thing that Katniss noticed was that her black, foam-plastic shoes were getting wet.

* * *

Coming next: **Katniss's Clock-Arena Quell**


	32. Katniss's Clock-Arena Quell

AU-Katniss never figures out the clock arena, so there are things that I can't tell you when I'm in Katniss's point of view. To wit: When the lightning hits the tree at the very beginning of Day Two, Luxuria is in the two-to-three wedge, while Katniss and her alliance are in the five-to-six wedge. ( _Catching Fire_ says nothing about what danger is in the five-to-six wedge.)

 **Chapter 32**  
 **Katniss's Clock-Arena Quell**

 **Meanwhile  
The Games Center, The Capitol**

Plutarch Heavensbee, Head Gamemaker (and secret Rebel), did not know what to think when Circuitelle Fujiwara, the District Three female, was Launched into the clock-arena while holding an apple.

Plutarch knew that each Launch Room was furnished with bottled water and non-greasy finger foods, and mentors universally advised their tributes to eat and drink before Launch. Some tributes took this advice; some did not. (Interestingly, Gamemaker statistics showed that the tributes who passed up this last-chance food and water were 94 percent more likely to die at the Bloodbath.)

Fine, so each Launch Room had apples (among other foods) available, and Circuitelle had grabbed an apple. But no tribute had ever before brought their food or drink into the Launch Tube with them. Was Circuitelle just extra hungry?

Plutarch wondered whether Circuitelle's odd behavior had anything to do with the statistic, unique to these Games, that twenty-one out of twenty-four mentors were closely related to their tributes. Only Pullman Larssen and Porsha Mizar of Six, and Peeta Mellark of Twelve, were _not_ related to their tributes.

* * *

 **One second later  
Roughly one minute before the Gong  
In the Third Quarter Quell arena**

Circuitelle bit into her apple, as she stood on her pedestal and took her first look at the site of her greatest triumph—or more likely, the place where she would die.

 _Think positively—Uncle Resistor made it out, so I can too_.

After Circuitelle took fifteen seconds looking over the arena, she noticed something odd: Every wedge had exactly two pedestals in it. Since every schoolchild knew that the Hunger Games had twenty-four tributes in it, this meant that the number of wedges around the Cornucopia was twelve. Was this twelve-number important?

"Eat your apple fast, cannonbait girl," a boy's voice jeered. "Because in less than a minute, you'll be drowning!"

On the other side of the nearest thin spoke, fifteen-year-old Goldwelder Higginbotham of District One was grinning at Circuitelle from his own pedestal.

Circuitelle rolled her eyes. " _Ha_ , you think I'm going to let some 'C-grade Career,' to quote Katniss Everdeen, kill me right away?"

Higginbotham's young eyes narrowed. "Just for that insult, _you_ will be First to Die."

Circuitelle grinned at him. "Did you know District Three makes explosives? Including _pedestal mines?_ "

Circuitelle threw like a girl, true, but her aim had improved much in the last three months. Circuitelle hurled her barely-eaten apple to hit the water only centimeters away from Goldwelder's pedestal.

 _BOOM_.

Circuitelle looked up at the sky and said insincerely, "Whoops."

Then Circuitelle added cheerfully, "Thanks for the tip, Uncle Resistor!"

Circuitelle looked around at shocked faces. She yelled, " _Remember, Careers, the rest of us outnumber you!_ "

With Circuitelle's words— _b-b-o-ng-g-g!_ —the Games began.

* * *

 **One second later**

Katniss dived into the water— _Salty, unfit for drinking, why am I not surprised?_ —and swam as fast as she could move.

Soon after, Katniss pulled herself out of the water and ran into the mouth of the Cornucopia. Too bad Keela Yale of Four was one step closer to the weapons.

But too bad for Keela, even a fast District Four swimmer was not as fast as someone who had just run unchallenged on her spoke. Keela Yale's throat was slashed by Circuitelle Fujiwara's brand-new knife.

Circuitelle and Katniss stopped to look at each other. Circuitelle said, "Allies? Take what you need."

"Thanks," said Katniss, dashing for the bow and arrow.

"Um, Katniss?" said Circuitelle. "Got company."

"Figured," Katniss replied. The boy from Four had just run in and picked up a spear. Katniss shot him in the eye.

" _Bluescreen!_ " Circuitelle exclaimed.

Katniss saw that Hoverkra had a problem, just outside the Cornucopia. Hoverkra was lying on her stomach, on the sand between the mouth of the Cornucopia and the water, having just been tackled by the boy from Eight. Hoverkra's attacker was one of Billyjon's friends.

But then Stallion was running around the edge of Cornucopia Beach. "Don't worry, Hoverkra, I got this."

Stallion leaped on Eight-Boy's back, grabbed Eight-Boy's head between his hands, and snapped his neck. _Crack!_

Seconds later, Hoverkra and Stallion were inside the Cornucopia, and Katniss was hurriedly introducing them to Circuitelle.

" _Yay!_ " Hoverkra exclaimed. "Porsha came through." Hoverkra held up the biggest wrench Katniss had ever seen.

Stallion, meanwhile, had claimed a coil of rope and a long knife. Since things were, for the moment, not urgent inside the Cornucopia, Katniss picked up a throwing knife—exactly like what Prim had used on Clove Fuhrman last year—and tucked the throwing knife inside her belt.

"We have to leave here," Katniss said. "No food is here. No water is here. I don't even see a canteen."

Stallion said to Circuitelle with a smile, "But I don't reckon you did wrong, throwing away your apple."

Circuitelle, blushing, smiled back.

* * *

 **One second later**

Katniss said, "Are any of you good with throwing a spear? As in, You hit what you're aiming at?"

Katniss got three _no_ es back.

Katniss paused, then said, "Here's the plan. I see three spears here in the Cornucopia. Y'all each take a spear, or one person carry all three spears. We're going to head to the jungle beach single-file, on whichever spoke looks driest. I'll be in front, to protect us from anyone attacking from the water. Somewhere between this Cornucopia beach and the jungle beach, drop the spears in the water."

Circuitelle said to Hoverkra and Stallion, "You guys will be safe, don't worry. I've seen Katniss shoot; her twelve-score isn't _miscode_. She's amazing."

As Stallion gathered up the spears inside the Cornucopia, Hoverkra asked, "What about swords and knives? Leave them here?"

"Yeah," Katniss said. "The other outer-district tributes will need weapons just to hunt food in the jungle, besides defending themselves from Careers' attacks."

Hoverkra, who was standing at the mouth of the Cornucopia, now laughed. "Girlfriend, you don't need to worry about attacks by Career _zzz_. Quintus is floating face-down, only the two girls are left, and they know we now outnumber them."

As Katniss pulled the gory arrow out of Four-Boy's eye socket—with barbed arena arrows, removing the arrow took two hands—she said, "I'm hoping Luxuria gives me an excuse to shoot her."

Katniss casually flung blood and flesh off the arrowhead of her recycled arrow. Katniss's three allies made disgusted faces.

* * *

 **A minute later**

Katniss's alliance was walking away from the Cornucopia, single-file on one of the spokes. It turned out that walking was slow going when the walkway was only 25 centimeters wide and often wet.

Katniss felt relief that she did not see any living tribute swimming toward her spoke. She did see many drowned teenagers floating in the water; and two different water-wedges had battles to the death going on there.

Hoverkra, perhaps to distract herself from all the floating dead bodies, said cheerfully, "Katniss, your boyfriend Peeta, he paints pictures, right?"

Katniss replied, "He does, and he's _amazing_ at it."

Hoverkra said, "Then he'll enjoy meeting Porsha," Hoverkra's mentor. "She paints too."

Katniss did not reply, but jealousy flashed in her brain. Scowling Katniss imagined Peeta holding Porsha in his arms, while Porsha painted a flower on his cheek.

Then Katniss felt silly for being so jealous. Peeta _strongly_ disapproved of Haymitch always drinking— _no way_ would Peeta leave Katniss for a known morphling addict.

Halfway between the Cornucopia and the ring-shaped jungle beach, Katniss heard behind her, _plunk_ , _plunk_ , _plunk_ —three spears hitting the water. Stallion's voice said admiringly, "You're smart, Katniss, getting rid of the only weapon that the Careers can use that's as dangerous as your arrows."

Katniss said, " _Me_ , smart? Not really. I just borrowed the idea that my boyfriend Peeta thought up last year."

A minute later, Katniss was close to the ring-shaped jungle beach, and was about to pass between two pedestals. She saw a body floating face-down by a pedestal. It was Billyjon; his neck was snapped.

From behind, Stallion said, "Katniss, a boy with a sword is coming up our spoke."

Katniss wondered, _Who's attacking us? All the boy Careers are dead_.

* * *

 **One second later**

Katniss jumped off the spoke, into knee-high water. "Everyone off the spoke! I need a clear shot at him."

Hoverkra, Circuitelle, and Stallion quickly obeyed.

When Katniss got a good look at the person who was attacking her alliance from the rear, Katniss saw he was the boy from Five, Billyjon's other "friend."

Katniss arrowed him. Instantly and fatally, of course.

" _Dayum_ ," Stallion murmured.

Right after this, Katniss heard cannon-booms. _Many_ cannon-booms.

"I count ... _seventeen?_ " Hoverkra said.

"Same here," Stallion said.

Circuitelle said, "Seventeen, yes."

Katniss said, "We went straight from the _Bloodbath_ to the _Final Eight?_ Whoa."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
The Games Center, the Capitol**

Plutarch Heavensbee was conflicted. _Oh boy_ , was he conflicted!

For Plutarch the secret Rebel, Katniss was a delight. Katniss had as much killing-skill as Brutus or Finnick; so she was worthy to stand beside Peeta and Primrose as a symbol of the Rebellion.

But for Plutarch the Gamemaker, Katniss made him want to punch the wall! Plutarch had figured out that this year's crop of inner-district tributes—Careers—would not be as adept as in other years, but did Katniss need to speak to the Careers with such _open contempt?_ Even worse, other outer-district tributes clearly had picked up Katniss's disrespect.

By now, seventy-five years in, the Games had an established tradition: Careers were there to kill gloriously, and outer-district tributes were there to be the sacrifices. But recently?

• Last year, outer-district tributes Peeta Mellark and Primrose Everdeen, between them, had killed three Careers.

• This year, Circuitelle Fujiwara of Three killed two Careers.

• This year, Katniss Everdeen of Twelve killed one Career.

• This year, Diesel Briarwood of Six, Oak Easton of Seven, and Looeze Kirby of Seven attacked Quintus Reid of Two. Quintus killed two of the three, but Oak Easton succeeded at drowning Quintus.

All this was shameful. Did these outer-district tributes have _no_ respect for tradition?

But Snow deserved the _real_ blame for the Third Quarter Quell clusterfuck, Plutarch decided. What did the president _think_ would happen when almost all of the Reaped tributes had a Victor for a close relative, _and_ had three months' notice that they might be Reaped? The Eligibles were going to _train_ with their Victor-relatives; it was obvious in hindsight.

In a normal year, it took outer-district tributes _days_ to accept the idea of "To survive these Games, I have to attack, I have to _kill_." Most outer-district tributes never made the mental switch, so they remained cannonbait. Only a few outer-district tributes ever became killers in their heads; and only the _lucky_ or _smart_ among those killer outer-district kids ever defeated Careers and became outer-district Victors—

—the same outer-district Victors who had spent three months coaching most of this year's crop of tributes. Coaching this year's kids not only how to _fight_ , but how to _think_.

In short, to think like _Careers_ , without all the "bring glory to my district" baggage.

So now three-months-trained outer-district tributes were killing Careers, and three-months-trained outer-district tributes were killing other outer-district tributes. Plutarch was going to be _royally pissed_ if these Games finished before midnight!

* * *

 **Hours later**

After some keen observation by Katniss, and by trial and error, and after Katniss's mentor Prim silver-parachuted a spile, the four members of Katniss's alliance discovered that they could eat nuts and "tree rats," and could drink water from trees.

Unfortunately, in the process of gathering nuts, Circuitelle Fujiwara ran into a force field and was electrocuted.

When the hovercraft came to take Circuitelle's body away, Katniss kissed the three middle fingers of her left hand, then she gave the District Twelve funeral-salute to Circuitelle, with Katniss's hand held high. Katniss declared, "I'm glad I met you, Circuitelle. Goodbye."

In the next half-hour, the girl from Two and the lone-wolf girl from Eleven also died—Katniss's team decided that these two girls also had been killed by the force field.

So by the time "sundown" occurred—meaning, by the time most of the overhead skylights in the arena had been turned off—Luxuria from District One was the only Career left alive, and only four tributes were alive in total.

An hour after "sundown," when the Gamemakers showed "The Fallen" overhead, twenty faces were shown—and this was a little less than half a day after the Gong.

* * *

 **At midnight (the beginning of Day Two of the 75th Hunger Games)**

Katniss was awakened by a sound that she had never heard outside of holodramas: the chiming of a clock announcing the hour. In the arena, those clock-chime sounds were _loud_.

Immediately after, lightning struck a tree that was sticking up, unnaturally tall, above the rest of the jungle that was beyond the far side of the circular lake and a little to the right. Even more strange, this tall tree that was struck by lightning did not burst into flame.

Right after _this_ , lightning began striking continuously. Lightning hit the jungle, the jungle beach, and the water—but only in one wedge, on the other side of the Cornucopia. No lightning hit the Cornucopia itself, and no lightning hit outside the wedge described by the two spokes that were next to each other and that pointed to either side of the lightning-tree.

No lightning came near Luxuria's part of the jungle beach (a quarter of the ring counterclockwise from where Katniss and her alliance were), and no lightning came near Katniss and her two allies. The four tributes were in no danger from lightning; but one far-away sliver of jungle beach was a deathtrap.

Conversation was impossible, because of the continuous thunder. Sleep was impossible, from all the lightning and thunder. Stallion, Hoverkra, and Luxuria all looked as scared as Katniss felt.

After a long while—it seemed like forever—the lightning _stopped_. As if someone had pushed a button.

Katniss asked Stallion, who was on watch, "How many times did the clock chime?"

"Twelve," Stallion answered.

"I wonder what _that_ was all about?" Katniss muttered, as she tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

 **One hour later (2 a.m. arena time)**

Katniss was on watch, and was trying to stay awake. No lightning and thunder were making nuisances anywhere, no nasty mutts were rising out of the circle lake, no nasty mutts were flying or crawling or slithering out of the jungle, and Luxuria was not pulling a sneaky nighttime attack. Instead, Luxuria was _sleeping_. Because Luxuria trusted Katniss and her allies not to attack during the night? Because she was exhausted?

 _That's odd_ , Katniss thought. The weather was all wrong for fog, yet Katniss saw fog flowing out of the jungle and onto the jungle beach—or rather, onto _Luxuria's_ part of the jungle beach.

As soon as a tendril of the fog touched Luxuria, she quickly sat up and looked around. Then she _screamed_.

Hoverkra and Stallion jumped up. Stallion looked at Katniss and Hoverkra in confusion, asking, "Who screamed?"

Katniss chin-pointed diagonally to her right. "Luxuria. She's in trouble."

Indeed, now Luxuria clearly _was_ in trouble. An invisible wall was stopping the nasty white fog from reaching the outer-district allies; but this same invisible wall was stopping Luxuria from escaping. Her loud scream of only seconds ago had become loud gasps, then not-so-loud gasps. Luxuria went from standing at the invisible wall and beating on it with her sword, to kneeling, to sagged down.

The cannon boomed. Right after this, the white fog retracted into the jungle—while still staying behind an invisible wall.

* * *

 **Two minutes later**

By now, all of the white fog was gone from the jungle beach. A hovercraft appeared to claim Luxuria's body.

As Luxuria's corpse was taken into the sky, Katniss gave it the funeral-salute. Hoverkra did _not_ approve—

"Katniss, what are you _doing?_ She was a Career, and she called you a _slut!_ "

As Katniss pulled her hand down, she said, "All true. But Luxuria worked hard to get here, and she deserved a better death than this."

Hoverkra said, "Um, Katniss? You realize, don't you, that out of twenty-four tributes, we're the last three left? One of us three has to kill the other two."

Stallion lay down on the sand. "If it's all the same to y'all, I'm not going to 'go mêlée' until I've had more sleep and it's daytime. If one of you wants to slit my throat in my sleep, it's on you."

"Sounds like a plan," Hoverkra said, as she herself dropped down to lie on the sand.

Katniss stared. "You two trust me so much?"

Hoverkra replied, "Primrose loves you and Peeta loves you, and they have honor. So yes."

Two minutes later, Stallion and Hoverkra were both asleep.

* * *

 **Not quite three hours later**

Hoverkra was on watch. Katniss was awakened from sleep by the sound of voices calling—

"Katnissss," called a male voice.

"Ssstallion," called a female voice.

"Hovvverkkraaa," called a male voice.

The male voice calling Katniss's name sounded familiar. Even as Katniss was trying to place the voice, she grabbed her bow and quiver, and leaped to her feet.

" _Shit_ ," said Stallion. He leaped up and faced the jungle. "That sounds just like—"

" _Diesel_ ," Hoverkra breathed. "That's _Diesel's_ voice."

Zombie-versions of the boy from Six, the girl from Ten, and Billyjon Travis stepped out of the nighttime foliage. The zombies' hair was matted and their eyes were cloudy. All three zombies were holding spears that were pointing up in Ready position.

Stallion snorted. "Drowned tributes holding drowned spears—yeah, it makes sense."

Zombie-Billyjon answered, "I did not drown. The boy from Two snapped my neck." Zombie-Billyjon, whose head always was facing his left shoulder, now turned his body so that his left-facing head also faced Katniss. "The boy from Two killed me to avenge Katniss's sister killing the girl from Two last year."

"You let us die," said the zombie-girl to the three living tributes.

"So now _you_ will die," said Zombie-Diesel.

All three zombies dropped their spears to horizontal. Attack position.

* * *

 **An instant later**

" _Liar! Mutt!_ " Hoverkra yelled. She hit the District Six zombie in the head, _hard_ , with her big wrench; Hoverkra used a two-armed swing. The Six-Boy zombie dropped limp. Hoverkra yelled, " _Just more Capitol lies!_ "

Both the Ten-Girl zombie and Zombie-Billyjon turned their spears on Katniss. Both zombies walked toward Katniss.

Katniss was confused. Was she facing zombies, or mutts? Katniss did not know where to shoot her arrow!

Meanwhile, Stallion was yelling, " _No way, you're not killing Katniss!_ " Stallion tried to stab Zombie-Billyjon (or Mutt-Billyjon?) with his long knife.

Stallion had a long knife; Billyjon had a spear. The spear won. Once Stallion was wounded, the zombie-girl stepped in close and plunged her own spear between Stallion's ribs.

 _Boom_ went the cannon.

The zombie-girl and Zombie-Billyjon stepped back, brought their spears up to the Ready position, turned around, and walked back into the jungle.

Right after _this_ , night in the arena turned into day.

Katniss looked at Hoverkra. "I guess we fight now."

* * *

 **An instant later**

Hoverkra, two-handed, swung her wrench. Not at any part of Katniss's body, but at— _Crack!_ —Katniss's bow.

" _You broke my bow!_ " Katniss exclaimed, as she regretfully tossed the arena bow aside.

"Had to," Hoverkra replied. "Otherwise I'm dead."

Then Hoverkra swung her wrench out to the side, before bringing it back in. Katniss realized, _She wants to bust my knee_.

Katniss had time to raise her leg only a little. The result: Hoverkra's wrench "only" broke a bone in Katniss's lower leg. Katniss fell to the ground, _screaming_.

Hoverkra stepped over Katniss's supine body, and prepared to bash Katniss's head in. "I'm truly sorry," Hoverkra said.

"I know," Katniss replied.

Thoughts flashed in Katniss's brain then—about Prim, about Peeta, about her father. Katniss regretted trying to drown kitten-Buttercup and making Prim cry. Then the thought flashed in her head: _If I die, Snow wins_.

Katniss remembered then that at the Cornucopia, she had claimed a throwing-knife and had stuck it inside her belt. Now Katniss snatched the knife and threw it at Hoverkra's throat.

 _Boom_ went the cannon.

 _Clank_ went Hoverkra's wrench, as it hit the sand. _Wuff_ went Hoverkra's body as it also hit the sand.

Trumpets sounded then, followed by Claudius Templesmith's voice. The message was unimportant, so Katniss did not pay attention to it, beyond noting that her full name was mentioned.

* * *

 **Two minutes later**

Moving across the sand with a broken leg was a slow, agonizing process, but Katniss refused all offers of help from the man at the Victor-hovercraft's open door.

Soon the Victor-hovercraft's shock-ladder was within reach, but Katniss did not reach for the ladder. Instead, she gave the District Twelve funeral-salute to the bodies of Stallion and Hoverkra.

"Goodbye, Stallion; goodbye, Hoverkra. I'm glad I met you, my friends. Thank you, Stallion, for fighting to save me. Hoverkra, my friend, I forgive you."

Then Katniss, who was wearing her quiver of arrows on her back and was carrying Hoverkra's big wrench with her right hand, grasped the shock-ladder with her left hand. Katniss was pulled into the Victor-hovercraft, where she wept as her leg was set.

Katniss left the broken bow and the throwing-knife in the arena.


	33. Sign and Countersign

In this chapter, I make an inside reference to SFCBruce's AU Hunger Games story "Absolution."

* * *

I want to give an explanation, for those who have not already figured it out, of what I'm trying to accomplish with this story. There are two ways you can write an alt-universe story: by following a script; or by starting with the change to canon and then asking, "How would the characters react to this? Then how would the characters react to each other's earlier reactions?" Or to put it another way, the second way of writing an AU is to ask WHAT ACTIONS BY CHARACTERS MAKE SENSE IN THE WORLD OF THE STORY?

Writing to a script is easier, which is why most Hunger Games AU stories are written this way. Delly gets Reaped instead of Prim, and Delly becomes the Mockingjay. Sally and Harry get Reaped instead of Prim and Peeta, and so Rue becomes the Mockingjay; or Foxface does. Once the script kicks in, the reader knows how the story will play out. On the other hand, a "Characters react in character to changed circumstances" AU gets _further and further from canon_ as the AU story plays out.

Because most AU stories are written to a script, some of you readers expect _any_ AU story to follow a script. Which is why you were confused when, in this story, Prim and Peeta's stylist was not Cinna, their stylist did not set up a "girl on fire" spectacle at Peeta and Prim's Tribute Parade, and no "Two tributes can both be Victors if they're from the same district" rule was proclaimed by Claudius Templesmith in P&P's Games. Most notably, many of you were confused that in the previous chapter (Chapter 32), I did not follow the script that Careers are always vicious killers, outer-district tributes are always timid cannonbait, and the final battle is always between our District Twelve hero(es) and a vicious Career. Instead, in Chapter 32, the outer-district tributes were as bloodthirsty as the Careers (because this is what I think would have happened), and Chapter 32 ended with a battle between Katniss and Hoverkra from District Six instead of Katniss battling a Career.

All this is a long way of saying that I'm not going to follow a script in future chapters either. All the characters will keep acting in character, but no character will do the same things, in the same order, in the same way, that he/she did in canon. There will be a rebellion against the Capitol and Snow, but not like you've seen before. Yet in the world of this story, my rebellion will "make sense."

 **Chapter 33**  
 **Sign and Countersign**

 **Sometime afterward  
** **In an emergency room in Victor Health Hospital, the Capitol**

It was Prim and a doctor, together, who gave the news to Katniss—

Hoverkra's wrench had broken both bones in Katniss's left lower leg, not one bone as Katniss had believed. Worse, both bones were broken near their tops, where they were bigger around, so healing would take longer. President Snow had ordered that Katniss be given "accelerated healing" on her bones.

Katniss saw that Prim looked unhappy when the doctor mentioned "accelerated healing."

So Katniss asked Prim, "Why the sad face?"

Prim replied, "Because pills won't give you the medicine right, and drip-bags won't give you the medicine right. They need to give you injections right into the broken bones."

"Twenty-six injections," the doctor added. "The injections are painful."

Katniss _hissed_. "What else do I need to know?"

Prim grinned. "For Capitol patients, accelerated healing costs many PDs. Even more so, because Capitols all pay extra for anesthetic during the injections." Prim grinned at Katniss in unspoken explanation: _Capitols choose the anesthetic because they're all weenies about pain_.

The doctor said, "Most Victors choose to receive the bone-injections without anesthetic. It is possible that some of these Victors come to regret this choice."

Katniss said, "I want to walk without a cane by the first Parcel Day. You make this happen and I'll let you stick me with knives a hundred times a day."

Prim squeezed Katniss's hand. "I figured you'd say this. You're brave, big sister."

It turned out that the doctor was not joking about the injections causing _agony_. To Katniss, if felt like one bone or the other was broken anew, twenty-six times. Katniss did not scream, but she squeezed on the squeeze-ball that the doctor gave her; and Katniss was ashamed that she could not stop tears from running down her face.

* * *

 **A half-hour later**

Katniss was in her private hospital room. She was alone; Prim and Peeta had left her to run errands.

Katniss's left leg _ached_.

To distract herself, Katniss turned on the room's holoprojector and was watching a game show. But five minutes in, the game show was interrupted by a live press conference from Victor Health Hospital.

Katniss's first thought was _Did an elderly Victor die? Is President Snow sick?_

The press conference, it turned out, was about _her_ , Katniss Everdeen from District Twelve. Katniss's doctor, and Prim and Peeta, spoke to reporters.

To Katniss, the idea that she herself was so interesting, and her broken leg was so interesting, that they were worth interrupting regular holoprograms, was ridiculous.

 _Is this my life now? "Katniss gets a zit—holo at ten!"_

Katniss noticed that Prim and Peeta, who were asked most of the Capitol reporters' questions, were relaxed and well-spoken in front of the camera—

Unlike Katniss herself. If Katniss had been the one answering questions, she would have ignored questions, or she would have been a stumbling, stammering fool when she tried to answer, or she would have answered with _That's a stupid question_. Katniss felt proud of Prim and Peeta.

* * *

 **Ten minutes after the end of the press conference  
** **In Katniss's private hospital room**

Katniss was expecting Prim and Peeta to walk into her room. Katniss was _not_ expecting to see Prim and Peeta along with Gloss and Cashmere from District One.

Peeta walked up to Katniss who was lying in bed, bent down to kiss his girlfriend on the lips, then said, "I'll be back in a half-hour."

Confused Katniss asked, "Where are you going?"

"Out." He swept a hand to mean Prim, Cashmere, and Gloss. "I'm giving y'all privacy."

With those words, Peeta walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

Katniss looked at Gloss and Cashmere in confusion. "Why are you here? I didn't kill either of your tributes."

Gorgeous Cashmere's smile at Katniss was a hundred times more beautiful than any Capitol actress's smile, because Cashmere _meant it_. "You didn't kill Luxuria, but you spoke well of her after she died. People in One weren't expecting such kindness from a District Twelve tribute. We thank you."

Katniss felt embarrassed by the praise. "Yeah, well, if that stupid fog hadn't killed her, I would have arrowed her in the morning, as soon as she tried something. She called me a _slut_."

Katniss shot Prim a look that asked _What's going on?_

Gloss said, "Prim asked both of us to talk to both of you, because now you two are both Victors and sisters. Cashmere and I are siblings who are both Victors. So we're here to tell you two what to expect."

Cashmere said, "The bad news is, You'll have nightmares almost every night. Your friends and even total strangers will be afraid of you. Then there's some other stuff, which you'll find out about later. The good news is—"

Katniss said, "Hold on, 'There's some other stuff.' _What_ other stuff?"

Gloss said, "The good news is, each of you, Primrose and Katniss, has one person close to you who knows _exactly_ what you're going through."

Cashmere said, "Katniss, you are _so lucky_ , and you don't even know it yet. You have _two_ people you can chat with anytime and they'll _understand:_ Primrose, and also Peeta. I truly envy you."

Katniss scowled at the District One siblings. "I asked a question, and you're avoiding it."

Cashmere said, "Fine. In the arena, you needed water, but you didn't know how to get it. So your mentor, Primrose here, sent you a spile. She never sent you food, water, medicine, or weapons, but she _did_ send you a spile. That spile cost ... what, about a hundred PDs?"

Primrose said, "A little over 120 PDs. For something that I was told could be bought in a hardware store in District Seven for seven PDs."

Katniss said, "That's robbery!"

Prim shrugged. "I've learned that mentoring is not all glamorous. Anyway, Cashmere, why are you talking about the spile?"

Cashmere asked Prim, "Of all the money you had in pledges, how much of it was from District Twelve?"

Prim answered quickly, "Seventeen PDs. District Twelve never can pledge much, Haymitch warned me."

Cashmere said, "Katniss, for you to get that spile that you desperately needed, your mentor had to spend money that had been pledged by _Capitols_."

Gloss said, "Katniss, you owe your life, you owe _your survival_ , to the generosity of the Capitol. So when you arrive at the Capitol at the end of your Victory Tour, six months from now, Snow will tell you how he expects you to pay back your debt."

Feeling dread, Katniss asked, "How?"

Cashmere said, "Unwilling prostitution. Saying no is _not_ a smart idea—talk to Johanna Mason if you're tempted to say no."

Prim and Katniss looked at each other in horror. Prim said, "I'm sorry, Katniss. I didn't know you would be dragged in _so soon_."

Katniss stared at Gloss and Cashmere. "You're telling me that you— _both_ of you—are ... _whores?_ "

Gloss shrugged. "Fortunately, only seldom do we fuck _each other_. But if some well-connected _rainbow pervert_ wants to see this, we give him what he wants."

Cashmere said, "Because we know that if we refuse, family members will die. Friends in One will die."

Katniss said, "But what about _Peeta?_ I _love_ Peeta, I'm _dating_ Peeta, I'm _fucking_ him—"

"Too much information, big sister," Prim said.

Cashmere sighed. "Just as you're not allowed to refuse the 'dates,' you're not allowed to tell the truth about the 'dates.' So you'll smile and tell 'Victors Tonight' that the creepy, fifty-something, potbellied Capitol in a purple wig who is pawing you is more of a 'real man' than is sweet Peeta Mellark. Peeta can overlook _shit_ like this for only so long."

Gloss said, "Then Snow can get his hooks into Peeta too. Because the rumor is, The only reason that Peeta hasn't _already_ been 'turned out' is because he's so publicly involved with _you_. If you and he break up..."

Again Katniss and Prim looked at each other in horror.

Cashmere said, "Anyway, when the day comes that Primrose gets 'turned out' too, you two can console each other. This is worth a lot. Neither of you will have to be like Enobaria—when the _shit_ is too much for her to handle, the only thing _she_ can do is to call _me_. When she _knows_ that the Capitol is listening to every word she says."

Katniss and Prim shared another look of horror.

Then Katniss turned her face to look at Gloss and Cashmere. Katniss's expression was determined: "You say I have six months before _I_ become a whore? I'll be putting this time to good use, _thinking_."

* * *

 **6:58 p.m.  
** **In Katniss's hospital room**

All four other members of the Twelve Team—Haymitch, Effie, Prim, and Peeta—were visiting with Katniss.

Katniss could not be sure, because Effie was a hard person for Katniss to read, but it seemed that Effie was not merely _faking_ happiness, she was _overjoyed_ —as if _Effie_ had just won the Hunger Games.

Katniss said, "So, Effie, I guess you'll be transferred to a better district next year."

Effie smiled at everyone. "No, I'm staying here, with my _lovely_ Victors. I withdrew my request."

Katniss's jaw dropped. Even Haymitch stared. He said, "Wow, sweetheart, that's ... _fuuuck_."

"Language," Effie said, even as she was giving Haymitch a soft smile.

Prim said, "It's almost seven o'clock. Okay if I turn on 'Victors Tonight'?"

Katniss made a face. "Do we have to? What else is on?"

Prim checked the program schedule. Coming up at seven would be "Victors Tonight," "Prancing for PDs," "Real Capitol Housewives," "Exiled to a District!", "Peacekeeper Academy," "Rome in the Time of Caesar Augustus," and an infomercial.

Effie commented, "With the Games over except for ceremonies, it's back to regular Capitol holo shows."

Haymitch said, "Meaning, regular _stupid_ shows."

Katniss sighed. "Fine. Tune it to 'Victors Tonight.' "

The anchor, Cordelia Flickerman, started with a recap of the Games since yesterday evening. The count of tributes at "sundown" of Day One was only four; but everyone was more interested in setting up camp on the jungle beach than fighting each other in darkness. Cordelia tut-tutted that Luxuria from One did not attack the tributes of the Alliance; Cordelia glossed over the fact that Luxuria was by then outnumbered three-to-one. The strange clock-chimes (in an arena that had no clock) and the hour of nonstop lightning were briefly recapped. Luxuria's death was shown in full (mainly because it had not taken much time to kill her). Next shown: The Alliance's three dead district partners stepped out of the nighttime jungle, after which—

—"Victors Tonight" broke for a commercial for Mile-High Wigs.

After the two-minute commercial, "Victors Tonight" showed the rest of the Games: two "dead" tributes teaming up to kill Stallion, Hoverkra breaking Katniss's leg, Katniss killing Hoverkra, and Katniss being declared Victor.

Katniss was covering her eyes with her hands for most of this part of the recap.

Then Cordelia Flickerman looked solemnly into the camera. "These Games lasted only 19 hours and 27 minutes, and many Capitol citizens are upset. _Upset_ because the excitement of the Games was cut short, but also _upset_ because the most exciting part of the Games happened while citizens were asleep."

Katniss scowled at Hologram-Cordelia. "How selfish of me, trying to stay alive instead of dying in an entertaining way. She's an idiot."

Haymitch gave Katniss a thumb-up.

The holoprogram, meanwhile, was showing interviews with whiny Capitols: a teen boy with streaked blue-and-green hair who was "disappointed I didn't get to see Luxuria and Katniss rip each other's clothes off and battle naked"; a young woman with sunset-orange hair who was holding a sunset-orange toy poodle (Peeta frowned, seeing this); and a creepy, potbellied man in his fifties who was wearing a purple wig.

The potbellied, purple-wigged man was text-identified as "Septicus Kopf, Minister of Internal Security," and he acted like he thought his words were important. "Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee has completely _ignored_ the wishes of Capitol citizens, in allowing the most dramatic actions of these Games to happen _overnight_. He should have dropped sleeping gas on the remaining tributes, so that all the drama and excitement happens when we of the Capitol are awake to _see_ it."

Katniss growled, "Six months from now, I supposedly will replace Peeta with _him?_ No way."

Peeta, Haymitch, and Effie all looked puzzled, but Prim laughed.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

Cordelia Flickerman intoned solemnly, "So now that Katniss Everdeen has won these latest Games, what is she doing now? _How_ is she doing now? This morning, Dr. Ozymandias Michaelsen, the Director of Post-Games Diagnosis and Treatment, as well as Victors Peeta Mellark and Primrose Everdeen, held a press conference at Victor Health Hospital."

After the press conference was replayed, and after Cordelia Flickerman marveled that "new Victor Katniss took the pain _twenty-six times_ ," the background visual shifted to—

—two smiling red hearts looking at each other; each red heart was topped with a Victor's crown. Cordelia smiled as she said, "Beetee and Wiress have always said they were 'just good friends.' Cashmere and Enobaria have always said _they_ were 'just good friends,' despite rumors. But Peeta and Katniss have dated, and she has spent many hours at his house—"

Katniss choked. "They _know_ about this?"

"—and now Katniss is herself a Victor. Peeta and Katniss are the first pair of Victors who are clearly a couple. So what should the two of them be called?"

Peeta said, "How about 'Peeta and Katniss'?"

Katniss replied, "I prefer 'Katniss and Peeta.' "

Cordelia ran a short clip of Plutarch Heavensbee's female assistant pushing for "The blood-soaked lovers of District Twelve." After the clip, Cordelia frowned.

Then Cordelia smiled. "We at 'Victors Tonight' have decided to call the couple 'The Victor valentines of District Twelve.' "

Prim said, "It's a stupid name, but not as stupid as the other one."

Katniss said, "I still prefer 'Katniss and Peeta.' "

Haymitch grinned. "What about combining your names? _Meldeen_ , or _KatPee_ , or _PeeNiss_."

All three young Victors rolled their eyes.

* * *

 **After another pause for commercials**

Cordelia was smiling as she said, "Everyone is wondering about our newest Victor, Katniss Everdeen."

Behind Cordelia, clips showed Katniss shooting the boy from Four and the boy from Five. Both times, Katniss shot fast with perfect aim.

Cordelia asked cheerfully, "How is Katniss able to shoot so _fast_ and so _well?_ —"

The real Katniss said, "Oh, _shit_." Effie looked at Katniss in puzzlement. Katniss thought, _If they've figured out I learned archery by illegal poaching, I'm in big trouble_.

"—to find out, we asked Dr. Remus Barker, who is a professor at Capitol University."

The professor did not have dyed skin or a wig, but green stuff was glued to his eyebrows.

He said, "From time to time, genetics will produce a person of amazing talent. This is true even among _district people_ , as degraded as their genetics sometimes are. How else to explain the painting skills of Victor Peeta Mellark, who has never taken an art class?"

The clip showed an oil painting of Katniss and Prim, each with an arm around the other's waist.

Effie said, "You paint so well, Peeta." Katniss saw Peeta's ears turn red, and he rubbed the back of his neck.

The professor continued, "And Katniss _already_ possesses a remarkable talent—"

The holo-image of the professor talking was replaced with a holo-image of Katniss on stage at last year's District Holiday, singing "The Anthem of Panem."

"—so it only makes sense that Katniss Everdeen's genes and chromosomes have likewise given her a remarkable talent at shooting a bow. We know she never went to the archery station during Training, but somehow she scored a twelve on her Evaluation, and her shooting in the arena was the stuff of legend."

An off-camera voice asked the professor, "So how she can shoot so well is just, 'It's in her genes'?"

The professor nodded. "Yes. If Katniss had picked up a sword in the Cornucopia instead of a bow and arrows, she likely could have sliced up the girl from One into stew meat."

Effie was happy, Katniss saw, as if the escort really believed what the professor had just said.

Haymitch said, "That is ... an interesting theory this man's got. It's a lot more interesting a theory than, say, Sweetheart here is good with a bow because she's been _shooting squirrels_ for the past however-many years."

Effie said, "Haymitch, Katniss doesn't _shoot_ squirrels, she _finds_ them. Primrose has said so."

An awkward silence followed, until Prim said to Katniss, "Isn't it nice that 'Victors Tonight' is polishing up your image so much?" Unspoken by Prim were additional words: _I wonder why they're_ trying _to polish your image?_

* * *

 **7:58 p.m.**

Cordelia signed off of "Victors Tonight." At the end, she said cheerfully, "For those of you in the districts, stay tuned for Mandatory Viewing."

Katniss groaned. "All those clips of me in the Games, I have to watch them _again?_ "

Peeta, Prim, and Haymitch said together: "Get used to it."

* * *

 **Six days later: before the Recap**

Katniss was _almost_ healed; the red-hot agony in her left lower leg, when she had crawled to the shock-ladder in the arena, now was a twinge that she felt only with every other step.

The bad news was, high heels made the pain worse; and Katniss was wearing high heels at Effie's insistence. The good news was that Cinna had listened to Katniss, and the shoes she now wore were much lower-heeled that Effie's first and second choices.

Katniss's white gown that she was wearing for the Recap was _mostly_ modest. White cloth completely covered her back, and a high white collar wrapped around the back and sides of her neck. Her arms were covered with long sleeves of a gauzy white material. The hem of her gown was down around her ankles.

But in front, the gown had a plunging neckline. Compared to what Cashmere or Johanna would wear in public, Katniss's neckline was modest; but every square centimeter of Pick Everdeen's medal, and that medal's black-white ribbon, lay against bare skin (except behind and beside Katniss's neck).

Caesar Flickerman called Katniss's name. A stagehand needed to pull the curtain back, because both of Katniss's hands were in use when she stepped into the lights.

Katniss walked toward Caesar while she carried Hoverkra's giant wrench. The shaft of the wrench ran up-down, with Katniss holding the shaft of the wrench with her fingertips, in front of her chest. Katniss was not quite sure what the gesture meant, but she had figured out that when the District Two Peacekeepers had held their rifles this way in front of Prim, the gesture had meant respect. Now Katniss wanted all of Panem to know that she respected Hoverkra.

When Katniss came close to Caesar, he was giving her a camera-ready smile, but the rest of his face showed confusion.

Katniss said, "My mentor, Primrose Everdeen, asked Porsha Mizar of District Six to be in the audience tonight. May I present this wrench to Porsha?"

"I would be delighted," Caesar replied.

A half-minute later, Hoverkra's mentor stood in front of Katniss. The woman was thin for a Victor, her skin was as pale as a coal miner's, and she had the pinpoint-pupil eyes of all morphling addicts—but her hair was styled, she was wearing hovercraft-earrings, and her gown was a very artistic blue-at-the-top-becoming-purple-becoming-magenta-at-the-hem. Porsha Mizar's chin was up, and she carried herself with dignity.

The wrench now was horizontal, laying across both of Katniss's upturned palms. Katniss held out the wrench, solemnly saying to Porsha, "Please give this to Hoverkra's family."

Porsha took the wrench with matching solemnity, saying, "On behalf of Hoverkra Davenport's family, I thank you, Katniss Everdeen."

All of Panem saw the exchange.

* * *

 **Later that evening**

The Recap went pretty much like how Haymitch, Prim, and Peeta had warned Katniss the Recap would go.

After the Recap came the Crowning, which was actually painless. Snow's granddaughter (who was carrying the pillow on which lay the Victor crown) was staring awestruck at Katniss, as if the District Twelve teen were a holodrama star. At the same time, President Snow looked like he would rather be mining coal.

Katniss smiled as she was crowned, for the same reason that President Snow looked so sour. She knew that he had read a faked-up Quarter Quell card with the intent of killing her off; instead, he had forced open the door to her becoming a Victor.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
** **In the Square, District Twelve**

By regulations, Paulus Cray was there at the edge of the Square to bash heads and to make arrests if any riots broke out during Mandatory Viewing.

But Cray knew that there would be no riots here. Not tonight. The only possible property damage that _might_ happen tonight would be the Twelve crowd in the Square cheering so _loudly_ that they broke glass.

Where Cray was standing, he could see Hologram-Snow (unsmiling) crown Hologram-Katniss (who wore a mocking smile).

Nobody—not even Peacekeeper Captain Baxter—was looking in Cray's direction at the moment, so he let himself grin like a fool.

 _Snow, I_ told _you Everdeen was great with a bow and arrow, I_ warned _you. But did you believe me? NO, you dragged her into the Games so she'd die. Surprise, she wasn't so easy to kill, was she? And now you're_ stuck _with her! You thought Haymitch Abernathy was bad? Katniss Everdeen will be_ ten _times worse_.

* * *

 **The next morning  
** **Victor Health Hospital**

Katniss had been medically discharged yesterday; she had spent last night in Twelve's twelfth-floor apartment in the Training Center.

But Dr. Michaelsen had insisted that Katniss be given one last check-up before she sat down for her Victor Interview, before boarding the train. This morning, Effie and Prim were doing press interviews (Prim was thrilled), so Peeta and Haymitch had tasked themselves with taking Katniss back to the hospital.

Now Peeta and Katniss were in an examination room with the doctor, behind a closed door, while Haymitch waited in the hallway. Haymitch was _sure_ that the boy was asking Dr. Michaelsen medical questions that Haymitch did _not_ want to hear.

A dark-skinned man walked up to Haymitch. He wore slacks, dress shirt, and tie, and a white lab coat covering all that. He did not have a stethoscope in his lab-coat pocket or around his neck, but he carried a clipboard.

"Pardon me, are you Haymitch Abernathy?" the man asked.

Haymitch blinked in surprise. The last time he had been asked _this_ question had been before he was Reaped. For the last twenty-five years, Haymitch had been recognized everywhere he went.

Haymitch said, "I am, but if you're looking for Katniss or Dr. Michaelsen, they're in that room there." Haymitch pointed.

"Actually, I don't want to talk to _them_ , I want to talk to _you_." Without waiting for permission, the dark-skinned man sat down next to Haymitch.

Haymitch realized then that though this man looked like a Capitol doctor (except for no stethoscope), he did not have a Capitol accent. Nor did he have a District Eleven accent, even though he had the skin color and hair of Chaff and Seeder.

 _Come to think of it_ , Haymitch thought, _I've_ never _heard an accent like this man's_.

While Haymitch had been realizing these things, the dark-skinned man had been leaning forward. The man said quietly, "Whatever goes upon four legs."

" _What?_ " Haymitch said. The man's words made no sense.

"Whatever goes upon four legs," the man quietly repeated. His eyes bored into Haymitch's.

Haymitch remembered a discussion he had had with Beetee eleven years ago. Haymitch, racking his brain, managed to recall the countersign: "Or has wings, is a friend."

The dark-skinned man smiled. "My name is Boggs. Expect me and six friends of mine to visit you during the District Holiday. We _won't_ be arriving by train. Please clean out your basement."


	34. Sightseers who Aren't

**Chapter 34**  
 **Sightseers who Aren't**

 **About a day later  
Approaching the train station, District Twelve**

The Twelve Team's members were all clustered around the closed train-car doors.

Outside, the District Twelve crowd could be heard cheering, even before the train stopped. Peeta saw that Effie and Prim were grinning.

Katniss looked astounded. Peeta suspected that three months ago, when Katniss had first learned she was going into the Games, she had never imagined _walking_ off the returning tribute train.

But Peeta, now hearing the cheers, was not smiling, he was nervous. Peeta looked over at Haymitch, who looked even more nervous.

When the train stopped and the doors finally opened, Peeta and Haymitch let Effie and Prim lead Katniss over to the waiting crowd. Seeing Katniss, the crowd _roared_.

Without a word, Haymitch led Peeta up the train to the refrigerator car. Specifically, Peeta was led to one part of the refrigerator car that had its own door on the side of the car.

As Twelve's two male Victors looked at the refrigerator car in silence, Peeta heard a banjo and a fiddle start to play. But the happy music was all for Katniss's part of the arrival, not for this.

Two work-gloved train workers in sky-blue coveralls opened the refrigerator car's side door and pulled on something. A ramp slid out of the side door to hit the train-station platform. The two men walked up the ramp; seconds later, they walked out carrying a long wooden box. They set the box on the train-station platform, sent the ramp back into the refrigerator car, shut the side door, and picked up the long wooden box.

The two train workers looked expectantly at Haymitch.

Haymitch said to them, "Ask Peeta. This is _his_ job this year."

Peeta, before he replied, looked around the train-station platform.

Most of Twelve was behind barricades, with Peacekeepers making a token effort to keep order. On this side of the barricades, two musicians—one Merchant, one Seam—were playing. Near the musicians, happy Katniss and Prim Everdeen were talking to crying Aloe Everdeen and the Tyndales, as smiling Effie hung back.

But there were two other little groups on this side of the barricades, and Peeta had business with them. Nobody in these last two groups was celebrating and happy, not even slightly.

Peeta pointed to Domiducus Jones, the Capitol Liaison, who today was dressed ridiculously Capitol. "Take Billyjon to him," Peeta told the train men, as Peeta's voice cracked. Peeta felt shame, he felt like a failure.

Soon afterward, the four men (and corpse) from the train were in front of Jones. Domiducus Jones said pompously, "I take responsibility for the remains of"—he glanced at a paper in his hand—"Billyjon Travis."

Next to Jones were two Seam men and a hand-pulled cart. In the cart were two shovels and a miner's pick. The two Seam men—their fingernails and the wrinkles of their skin were black with coal dust—took the long wooden box from the train men, and put the box in the cart. The Seam men were much gentler with the wooden box than the train men had been, Peeta noticed.

The two train men were already walking back to the train, without a word spoken or a backward glance.

"To the cemetery," Jones ordered the miners. Each miner grabbed a handle of the cart and pulled the cart toward a ramp at the far end of the train-station platform.

The music changed then: The fiddle player began to play "Mirror My God Toothy," a song played at District Twelve funerals. The crowd went silent.

Many in the crowd—including the entire Everdeen family and the Tyndales—gave Billyjon's departing coffin a funeral salute.

Peeta did not ask Haymitch what the older man had done as mentor of dead tributes. Peeta did not ask Haymitch whether a mentor giving the funeral salute to his dead tribute would make Snow angry. Peeta did not ask Haymitch whether "Victors Tonight" would spin things nicely afterward. Peeta simply kissed the three middle fingers of his left hand, then raised his own left hand into the air as he faced Billyjon's box in the cart.

"Smart, boy," Haymitch murmured. "This will make things a little easier now, when you talk to the family."

One last group was on this side of the barricades: a sad Seam family. None of its members were looking at Peeta; all of them were looking at Haymitch.

Peeta murmured to Haymitch, "You go be with Effie. This is _my_ job, officially; let me handle this."

Haymitch chuckled without humor. "I'm really tempted, yeah. But Cousin Lynnda there wants to talk to _me_ and no one but."

Squaring his shoulders, Peeta walked toward the Travis family, his face solemn. Haymitch silently walked next to Peeta.

* * *

 **Seconds later**

The Travises were a family of four: a man and woman in their forties, a son slightly too old for Reaping age, and a daughter slightly too young. All had Seam coloring.

"Haymitch Abernathy," Peeta heard the mother say. She said the name in the same disgusted tone that anyone else would have said _You baby-kicker_. "So you're still alive? I'd only heard rumors."

Haymitch said, "I kept away because I was trying to _protect_ you, Lynnda. You and yours. If I wasn't close to you, you would stay safe."

"Well, _that_ plan worked well," Lynnda Travis's husband said. He jerked his thumb to mean the departed coffin.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Peeta said. "I'm sorry I couldn't save him," he added, wishing he were anywhere but here.

"What're you talking about?" Mister Travis asked Peeta, looking confused.

Haymitch said, " _Peeta_ was Billyjon's mentor. The only reason _I_ was on the train was because both Peeta and Prim had never mentored before, so I was mentor to the mentors."

"But he's a Townie," Billyjon's brother said, glaring at Haymitch. "And he's not related to us."

Peeta said, "But I _also_ won the Games, and a _lot_ more recently than Haymitch did. Trust me, the fact that my father was the baker, not a coal miner, doesn't matter _at all_ now."

"Leave _off_ , boy," Haymitch said to Billyjon's brother. "Billyjon had the same fucked-up, _snooty_ attitude you have, he wouldn't listen to a _motherfucking thing_ Peeta tried to tell him. Well, ignoring Peeta got him _killed_. Even if that Career shithead hadn't _targeted_ Billyjon, he wouldn't have lived another ten minutes."

"You don't know that," Billyjon's brother challenged.

"Boy, I've been doing this since your mother was nineteen. Don't tell me what I do or don't know."

The young girl said to Haymitch, "But couldn't you have taught Billyjon some _tricks?_ Fighting tricks? You knew _three months ago_ that Billyjon might be Reaped, Cousin Haymitch."

Haymitch sighed, looking guilty. "Yeah, I guess I could have. Sorry."

" _No_ ," Peeta said, surprising the Travises and Haymitch (and himself). " _I_ was the last Victor whom Billyjon talked to before he was Launched. If you want to blame someone for his death, blame _me_."

Mister Travis looked at Peeta with respect. "You got loyalty and you got guts, Townie—I mean, Victor Peeta."

* * *

 **A minute later**

Peeta was walking out of the train station with the Travises and Haymitch, to walk to the cemetery and watch Billyjon be buried. As Peeta walked away, he heard Katniss sing a pre-Catastrophes song with the instrumentalists. Katniss was singing a sad song, which fit Peeta's somber mood—

 _You ditched me here for that cheap tramp  
With cheatin' eyes, you heartless scamp.  
My eyes are red, my face is damp,  
But I ain't lonely, I've got my beer._

 _You pledged "You only, until my death,"  
But you planned cheatin' with your next breath,  
With Daphne and Dolly, and now with Beth.  
But I ain't lonely, I've got my beer._

* * *

 **Hours later  
During the District Holiday  
On the front steps of the Justice Building**

The Justice Building was on the west side of District Twelve's Square—the side closest to the Capitol. What this meant was that in the afternoons, the Justice Building's front steps were in shade. On a hot afternoon in early July, this fact was important.

Now sitting on those shaded front steps were Peeta and the Everdeen sisters—just like during the District Holiday of a year ago. But this second time, Katniss was a Victor too.

Peeta watched and listened as Urbania—who was a young Capitol woman whom Katniss apparently knew from the mine-company medical clinic—gushed about how "wonderful" Katniss had been in her Games.

Peeta expected Katniss to yell at the young Capitol woman. Instead, Katniss said patiently, "Urbania, I hope you realize that I wasn't trying to be 'wonderful,' I was trying to _stay alive_. This wasn't 'Prancing for PDs' I was part of."

Urbania said, "I..." Peeta watched Urbania _get it_ ; horror showed on Urbania's face. "Jeez, Katniss, you could have _died!_ I admire you, I respect you, and you could have _died!_ "

Then Urbania whispered, "What a waste this would have been."

Katniss said, "I know."

Urbania looked at Peeta and Prim. "You're not arguing with her. You're not saying _I fought hard, but for a different reason_."

Peeta said, "Every minute in there, I fought to keep Prim alive, then me alive. 'For glory to my district'? _Pfft_."

Prim said, "Same with me."

Urbania now was jittery. "I need to go, I—I need to think about things."

Urbania took three steps away, then stopped and turned back to Katniss. "I don't know if Hermione Riddle is singing here again this year, but _I_ think _you_ are better at singing."

Peeta grinned at Urbania. "Prim and I think so too."

* * *

 **Seconds later**

After Urbania faded into the crowd, Katniss asked, "Is Hermione Riddle here to sing? Is she one of the rainbows who arrived on the train this year?"

Peeta said, "I haven't seen her. I don't think she came."

Prim said, "I hear her music sales _tanked_ , after she lost to you in last year's sing-off. Getting called out for _singing flat_ has hurt her reputation."

" _Good_ ," said Katniss. "That rainbow diva deserves it."

Peeta said, "Speaking of rainbows, it looks like we've got Capitol sightseers over there." Peeta chin-pointed to the far side of the Square.

Katniss said, " _Sightseers?_ Capitols _never_ want to see Twelve. Especially after _other_ Capitols warn them what Twelve smells like."

Prim giggled. "Unless they talk to Effie. Effie told Flavius, quote, 'You'll get used to the smell.' "

Peeta was still looking at the sightseers. He said, "That's odd."

Prim asked, "What's odd?"

Peeta said, "I once saw a holodrama that was set a century before the Catastrophes. There was this married couple who came from a country with a long, weird name. Anyway, this country was the enemy of the United States," one of the three countries that had become Panem after the Catastrophes. "These two married people were _spies_ —they lived in the United States and pretended to be natives of the United States, but they tried to find out secrets of the United States, which they reported back to their country with the long, weird name."

Prim said, "Okay, so?"

"So there was one scene where they were at a place with many policemen—remember that before the Catastrophes, policemen and soldiers had separate jobs. Well, these spies wanted to watch what the policemen were doing, without the policemen noticing them. So whenever a policeman was walking near to them, one of the spies would point to something, then they both would turn to look at it, so both their backs would be to the policeman when he went near them. As soon as the policeman walked past, they turned back to facing in the direction they had been facing earlier."

Katniss said, "Peeta, I still don't understand. What's your point?"

Peeta said, "Peacekeepers are patrolling the Square. Two Peacekeepers just walked near the Capitol sightseers, who _just happened to_ all turn their backs on the Peacekeepers, to _all_ look at the Television House, after the dark-skinned man pointed it out. But the sightseers stopped looking at the Television House after the Peacekeepers walked past."

Katniss said, "They're not spies. Spies in District Twelve would dress like _Twelves_. Like _us_."

Prim shook her head. "But Twelve is a small district. I recognize the face of everyone in Twelve, and I'll bet you do too. If strangers showed up in Twelve claiming to _be_ Twelves, they'd be spotted"—Prim snapped her fingers—"like _that_."

Peeta looked closer at the Capitol sightseers. They were three men and four women; one of the men had dark skin. Two of the four women were blond twins in their twenties. The third woman was a tall, slim brunette in her thirties with a serious expression. The fourth woman was in her forties, had eyes the color of fog, and wore a bright-green wig that clashed with her bright-orange pantsuit. The green-wigged woman had been frowning for as long as Peeta had been looking at her.

Peeta realized that he had assumed that the seven people were all Capitols because they all wore colorful Capitol clothing. But if the seven people were spies, the Capitol clothing was likely a disguise—like those long-ago spies in the USA dressing like USA-ans.

Prim stated, "They are _not_ Capitols."

Peeta and Katniss both asked, "How do you know?"

Prim answered, "Look at what they're _not_ wearing. None of them have piercings, or jewels embedded in their skin, or skin dye, or colored eyebrows, or tattoos. Only one of the seven wears a wig. And the twins are both showing their blondness. A young _Capitol_ woman would sooner wear a _miner's helmet_ than show her true hair color."

Peeta said, "As for the twins' hair color, I don't know if it means anything, but their hair is the _exact same shade_ of blond as Pierre Leeg," the mayor of District Thirteen at the start of the Dark Days, who had convinced the other twelve districts to rebel against the Capitol.

Katniss said, "Wait, you remember his _exact hair color_ from his picture in our history books?" A second later, Katniss answered her own question: "You're an artist; _of course_ you remember his hair color." Then Katniss added: "But they _can't_ be related to Pierre Leeg—he was killed at the end of the Dark Days."

Peeta leaned over to Katniss and said quietly, " _Was_ he killed? District Thirteen _lives_ , Katniss."

Katniss stared at Peeta, openmouthed.

When Peeta looked back at the "Capitol sightseers," he saw that the green-wigged woman was looking back at him, and she was still frowning. She snapped her head sideways, sending a message of _Look away!_

Peeta did not look away. Instead, he mouthed _Thirteen?_

The green-wigged woman spun around; almost her back was to Peeta now. She spoke to the other six people.

Katniss said, "They're a pack. The wigged woman is their leader, and the dark-skinned man is their junior leader. But rainbows are too _vain_ to form into packs, so they're not Capitols."

Prim said, "But they're not district either. The Peacekeepers would never give them permission to come to Twelve except as workers in this District Holiday. But they're not working a booth."

Prim's voice dropped: "Peeta? Katniss? I think those folks _are_ from District Thirteen. Do we tell Baxter?"

Peeta said, "Let's talk to Haymitch, and let _him_ decide to tell Baxter."

* * *

 **A minute later**

The Victor trio found Haymitch and Effie in shade beneath one of the pavilions; Haymitch was eating ice cream and was drinking a beer.

Peeta moved to the side of Haymitch that was away from Effie. Peeta leaned down and murmured in Haymitch's ear, "See those Capitol sightseers diagonally to your left? We think they aren't sightseeing and they aren't Capitols."

Haymitch looked at the "sightseers," then he asked Prim and Katniss, "What about you two? You agree with what the boy just said?"

It was Effie who spoke next: "What did Peeta just say?"

Prim said to Haymitch, "Yes, we agree. It's _obvious_ , once you know to look for it."

One of the blond twins looked in their direction, and said something to the dark-skinned man. The dark-skinned man looked in their direction.

Haymitch growled, "Those _fuckers!_ Kids, stay here and keep Effie company." Haymitch shot out of his seat and hurried off toward the "sightseers."

Effie asked, "What's happening? Where is Haymitch going? To talk to those Capitols? Shouldn't I be going with him?"

Peeta said, " _Trust_ me, Effie, you _really_ don't want to be involved in this."

Haymitch hurried up to the "sightseers," spoke briefly to the dark-skinned man, then got into an argument with the wigged woman. Peeta could not hear the argument, but it was clear from watching that Haymitch was angry at the wigged woman, but she was not taking his orders; while the wigged woman was treating Haymitch with haughty scorn, but he was not accepting such treatment.

After a minute or two of this, the "sightseers" strolled away from Haymitch. But Peeta noticed that they did not walk toward the train station, they walked toward Victors' Village.


	35. No No No

In Chapter 26 of SFCBruce's "Absolution," Katniss and Peeta meet some Thirteens in Haymitch's basement. In my chapter below, I add Prim and Coin (and Boggs), and this makes _all_ the difference.

In my note for Chapter 15, I argued that sweet Prim, even in canon, can haggle like a used-car dealer when she chooses to. Here Prim displays this ability again.

A belated note about Chapter 32: No tribute found the pearl in the AU Clock Arena; or if someone _did_ find the pearl, (s)he did not give the pearl to Katniss. The pearl is gone, folks.

 **Chapter 35**  
 **No. No. No.**

 **The next morning  
At the District Twelve train station**

Effie said to Katniss, "Be thinking about your talent, dear. Every Victor needs to have one."

Katniss pouted. "Fine. I'll _think_ about a talent. But it _won't_ be singing."

Peeta said, "That's fine, Katniss, but it's a fact you're better than at least one Capitol singer. Actually, you're the best I've ever heard."

" _Exactly!_ " Effie said. "Dear, if you recorded albums, people would line up around the block to buy them."

Haymitch said, "Princess, our newest Victor has spoken. Leave her alone."

Prim said, "I think people would get their coins' worth if they bought Katniss music albums, yes. But _more than this_ , I want my big sister to be happy."

Katniss smiled big, looking relieved. " _Thank_ you, Little Duck."

" _Trinket! Get on the boinking train!_ " a man's voice yelled.

Effie smiled at Katniss again. "I need to go. But if you want any help at decorating your new house, call me." Katniss's brand-new house was across the green from Haymitch's house and was next to Peeta's house.

"If you're _sure_ you wouldn't mind a call about house-decorating," Katniss said to Effie. She rolled her eyes.

Effie hugged all the Victors goodbye, then stepped onto the train.

The four District Twelve Victors watched the train leave. The four Victors then walked back to Victors' Village, with the three youngest Victors saying little of importance.

Prim noticed that during the entire walk back home, Haymitch spoke no words, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

As soon as the four Victors passed through the gates of Victors' Village, Haymitch said, "Come with me. I want you to see something in my basement."

Prim, as well as Katniss and Peeta, shrugged and agreed.

Prim's curiosity was whetted when Haymitch, at his front door, did two mysterious things: Before opening the door, Haymitch pulled a bug-jammer out of his pocket; then Haymitch said, "Kids, don't speak till you're at the bottom of my stairs—even though you're gonna want to."

* * *

 **A half-minute later  
In Haymitch's basement**

Prim saw the seven fake-Capitols—all now dressed in gray clothing. The formerly-green-wigged woman was sitting in a chair (while the other six stood), and her green wig now lay by a rolled-up gray sleeping bag.

Katniss said, "It's the Thirteens—why am I not surprised?" Katniss asked the sitting woman, "Are you wearing another wig?" Prim agreed with Katniss that the sitting woman's gray hair was too perfect to be natural.

The woman snapped, "Soldier Abernathy, you were _told_ not to tell _anyone_ about our visit here!"

Haymitch said, "Coin, I keep telling you, I ain't no soldier!"

Katniss demanded, "Haymitch, who _is_ this woman?"

Peeta said, "Ma'am, Haymitch didn't tell us that y'all were Thirteens, _we_ told _him_. As spies, y'all are ... well, pathetic."

Katniss snapped, "Lady, if a _real_ Capitol had tried to talk to y'all, y'all would've been spotted _in a second_ , then you'd have wound up being arrested by Peacekeepers. Then _all four_ of us Twelve Victors would've been arrested too! Did you think of the danger you were putting _us_ in, before y'all strolled around our Square in your clown clothes?"

The gray-haired woman's eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared.

Prim asked calmly, "Ma'am, who are you? Why did you call Haymitch 'Soldier'? Most importantly, why are y'all from District Thirteen _here?_ "

Haymitch said, "Kids, let me make introductions. The sitting woman is Alma Coin, president of District Thirteen—"

" _President_ of Thirteen?" Katniss snorted. "And I'm the queen of the District Twelve forest."

"—and the dark-skinned man who's standing next to Coin is Peter Boggs, a colonel in Thirteen's army. Sorry, other Thirteens, but I don't remember y'all's names. Thirteens, these three zit-faced killers are Peeta Mellark, Primrose Everdeen, and Katniss Everdeen."

Prim said, " _Ahem_. I'm thirteen. I don't have facial blemishes yet." Prim and Peeta high-fived.

Alma Coin stood up and introduced her group to the Twelve Victors. Prim noticed that the dark-skinned man and the tall brunette were both introduced with a specific officer rank, while the other four were introduced with the unspecified rank of "Soldier."

Alma Coin looked at the Twelves. "The time has come for the twelve districts that are now under Capitol oppression to be freed. District Thirteen's army, plus you three recent Victors—'the Three Mockingjays'—plus soldiers in district militias that are under District Thirteen's direction, together _will_ break the Capitol's chains."

The Thirteens clapped. The Twelves stared.

Peeta looked at Haymitch, puzzled. "Did you know about this? About Prim, Katniss, and me becoming 'the Three Mockingjays'?"

Haymitch replied, "Coin said stuff yesterday about 'bringing the children into the fight,' but she didn't say _shit_ about mockingjays."

Prim asked Alma Coin, "We 'Mockingjays'—what is _our_ job to be? You'll give us guns and we shoot Peacekeepers?"

Coin said, "Oh no, we have soldiers for that. _Your_ job will be to make propaganda messages that inspire the soldiers and district residents, and that demoralize Capitol people."

Prim shook her head. "I have _no_ idea how to _begin_ to do that. Where would we get camera people? Sound people? Editors?"

Katniss said, "Besides which, _what would we say?_ "

"That's not your decision to make, Soldier Everdeen," Alma Coin said to Katniss.

Prim frowned.

Alma Coin continued, "By the time the Rebellion starts, we will have the services of a Capitol traitor who knows much about propaganda. He will write your scripts. You three will each have the responsibility to say the words believably."

Haymitch asked with a smirk, "And _my_ job, I suppose, will be to lead Twelve's militia, under District Thirteen's capable direction?"

"Yes," Alma Coin said. She added dismissively, "Assuming you're up to the challenge."

Peeta asked Haymitch, "What do you think? About what she said?"

Haymitch sighed. "It's not the way I pictured the Rebellion going down. But if it takes out Snow and it stops the Capitol breathing down our necks, I suppose I can live with it."

Peeta asked Katniss, "What do _you_ think?"

Katniss shrugged. "What Haymitch said. I guess I can live with it."

Peeta sighed. "Yeah."

Alma Coin said, "Good, that's settled. We shall—"

" _NO_ ," Prim said. "Nuh-uh, forget it."

Everyone else in the basement stared at her.

* * *

 **One second later**

Katniss said, "Speak your mind, Little Duck."

Prim looked at Alma Coin. Prim disliked very few people and she distrusted very few people, but 'President' Coin was on both lists.

Prim said to Alma Coin, "Let me see if I have this straight. You're from the district that _ran away and hid_ seventy-five years ago. But now you want to start a new rebellion. That is, a rebellion where Haymitch and every other fighter in the Reaped districts takes orders from Thirteen—the same district that _ran and hid_ , remember—and everyone in Thirteen takes orders from _you_ , Mayor Coin."

One of the blond twins started to say something. Katniss sneered, " _Silence_ , Soldier!" The blonde obeyed.

Prim said, "Now suppose that this Rebellion succeeds—Snow no longer is president. Who would be the new president of Panem? Would it be a Victor from District Two or District Four who had led troops in battle, or a troop-commander woman from District Eight? Would it be Haymitch, or Peeta? No, because during the Rebellion, all of these Reaped-district leaders would basically be _flunkies_ and _order-takers_ , whatever their so-called rank and whatever their battlefield successes. No, the only logical person to be the next president of Panem would be the _one_ person who gave orders but never took orders. _You_ , Mayor Coin."

Nobody spoke. The Thirteens looked shocked that anyone would speak disrespect to their leader; the Twelves looked angry.

Coin's eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared.

After a brief silence, Coin said, "Soldier Everdeen, I insist you address me by my title—"

Prim shook her head. "You run a district; you don't _yet_ run a country. Which brings me to my next point. People whose judgment I trust have told me that a rebellion can't succeed without someone or something to unite the districts. That's _us_ , 'the Three Mockingjays' who make propaganda messages. Each of us is admired and respected in the Reaped districts. Without Katniss, Peeta, and me, you will never be president _for real_ , 'President' Coin."

Alma Coin replied, "The Rebellion would be helped by you three, yes, but—"

"Would be _helped_ by us? Listen, Thirteen could have fought the Rebellion fifteen years ago, right? You did not. You did not fight the Rebellion ten years ago, nor one year ago, nor last week. When did you come to Twelve to announce you would fight another rebellion? The day Katniss came home! You _need_ 'the Three Mockingjays,' admit it, because _you_ think the Rebellion can't succeed without us."

Alma Coin said, "The fact remains, you three are _children_ , and you need strong guidance."

"I walked out of a kill-or-be-killed arena; I think I've proven myself." Prim looked at the Thirteens. "All of you are too young to have fought in the First Rebellion. So how many people have y'all killed in battle? _None_ , right? This 'child' has killed 1-1/2 deadly opponents. As for guidance, when I need it now, I'll ask Haymitch."

Alma Coin sniffed, "Soldier Abernathy is a drunk. He is unfit to give guidance except for the narrow specialty of the Hunger Games."

Haymitch said, "Coin, if _you'd_ lived through the shit _I've_ lived through, _you'd_ be a drunk too!"

Katniss said, "Mayor Coin, it seems to me _you're_ not fit to give anyone advice, except for _how to hide_ for seventy-five years." Katniss and Peeta high-fived.

Lt. Jackson snapped, "Hey Victors, you four are rude and ungrateful. President Coin is offering to liberate the lower twelve districts from the Capitol's oppression, so show her proper respect!"

Katniss said, "Oh, yeah? Here's her 'offer': You Thirteens will come in, who've never been Reaped and never been scared of being Reaped. You fine Thirteen folks will give the orders, and the Reaped districts will take the orders and do the dying. The Reaped districts will still take shit, we 'Three Mockingjays' will take shit, but you _Capitols in gray_ will get the glory. By the way, _the Capitol_ is always lecturing us districts that we should be grateful to _them_ , even as they send off district children to die."

Katniss and Lt. Jackson glared at each other. Seconds passed in silence.

Prim said, "Mayor Coin, here's my bottom line: I refuse to take orders from you."

Prim heard many gasps.

Prim added, "If this means no Rebellion happens—sorry, Haymitch. If the Rebellion happens but you're in charge, Mayor Coin, I'll stay out of the fight. _Completely_ out. Neutral."

Katniss said, "Prim, you can't stay _completely_ out of the fight! The Capitol won't let you."

Prim shrugged. "I'll live in the forest if I have to. Till I'm eaten by a bear."

Katniss looked at Alma Coin. "If Prim won't take orders from you, I won't either."

Peeta said, "I'm with Prim and Katniss."

"Well, fuck me," Haymitch said. "So where does this leave us?"

Prim said, "I'll take orders from Lyme Sahad in Two, or Hammerhead Oleery in Four, or that woman who led the fighting in Eight last year. Let one of them be the Big General in Charge."

Colonel Boggs said, "But Thirteen has the firearms! Thirteen has the ammo and explosives! Thirteen has the hovercraft!"

"Not _all_ the hovercraft," Peeta said. "I'm told the Reaped districts have one hovercraft hidden."

Colonel Boggs covered his eyes with a hand.

Prim said, "Thirteen also has the history of _running away and hiding_ when times got tough, which forced the other districts to have to sign the Treaty of the Treason. To remind you Thirteens, this is the treaty that forced all four of us Twelves in this basement to _fight to the death_. Anyway, these are my terms—Mayor Coin commands a rebellion that I'm no part of, or Mayor Coin takes orders from the same Reaped-district general whom I take orders from."

"Same with me," Katniss and Peeta said together.

"Well, shit," Lt. Jackson said.

* * *

 **One minute later  
In the silent basement**

Alma Coin glared murderous death at Prim. Then the mayor/president of District Thirteen said, "Fine. Give me the names and districts of the three people from whom Primrose will take orders."


	36. The Rebellion Begins

Did you know that it was illegal to possess a shortwave radio in Nazi Germany? Shortwave radios are subversive, because you can hear messages that originate outside your country. My father gifted me with a portable shortwave radio on Christmas of 1997; nowadays I use the radio mainly to tune in to station WWV, so I can set my microwave clock to within a half-second of the "correct" time. But I've also used my shortwave radio to listen to broadcasts from New Zealand, Sweden, the Netherlands, Taiwan, the People's Republic of China, and Communist Cuba. But my point (and the reason that the Nazis banned shortwave radios) is that once I change the frequency of my radio, _nobody_ knows what I listened-to before then. A hypothetical policeman has no idea (unless he had put a secret microphone in my room) whether I spend hours each night listening to Dr. Gene Scott and Brother Stair, or whether I'm a faithful listener to Radio Havana Cuba.

Suzanne Collins is a former television writer, and she got the idea for _The Hunger Games_ while channel-surfing her TV, so it's no surprise that television is a major part of the Hunger Games universe. But in _Mockingjay_ , Panem apparently has only one television channel, and hijacking this channel is a major technical challenge; whereas setting up a pirate shortwave-radio station is a much simpler task. So I argue that if the Rebellion wanted to break the Capitol's monopoly on information, the Rebels would make shortwave broadcasts as well as preparing television messages.

On December 7, 1941, the U.S. military was expecting the Japanese to attack them—in the Philippines. On the morning of December 7th, the Opana Radar Site, on the north side of Oahu, spotted dozens of inbound Japanese Zero airplanes, forty-five minutes before those airplanes reached Pearl Harbor. So why were those Zeroes not shot down? How did they reach Pearl Harbor unchallenged and arriving by surprise? Because a U.S. Army Air Corps lieutenant, Kermit Tyler, decided that the radar-spotted airplanes were an expected flight of B-17s from California, even though the inbound airplanes' direction was 90° wrong! Ultimately, the Japanese benefited from the American military's smug belief that "Those people wouldn't _dare_ attack us _here!_ "

 **Chapter 36**  
 **The Rebellion Begins**

A week later, Twelve's four Victors each received a gift: 500 cc of delicious mushrooms that had been grown by Hammerhead Oleery of District Four. Prim's mushrooms came with a one-word note, "Thanks."

Two weeks later, Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee announced that he would be visiting every district, in search for a suitable site for the 79th Hunger Games. As a goodwill gift, every district mayor and Victor was given a radio with a Beetee Latier-designed "improved antenna," so that the radio could pick up Capitol FM stereo stations anywhere in Panem, and even out at sea. Because really, were not mayors and Victors crying into their pillows at night because they could not listen to Capitol radio stations except when they were in the Capitol?

On the back of each radio was a rectangular plastic plate, held in place by two slotted screws, that said "To be opened by authorized technicians only." If the screw-slots were vertical, the radio was a simple FM radio; these radios were given to mayors and Victors who were believed to be sympathetic to the Capitol. If the screw-slots were horizontal, the cover could be removed and the radio switched over to receive shortwave frequencies; these radios were given to Rebellion-sympathetic mayors. Rebellion-sympathetic Victors were given radios with the screw-slots diagonal; these radios could pick up Capitol FM, shortwave radio, and Peacekeeper-frequency military radio.

Meanwhile, radios that could both receive and broadcast on selected shortwave frequencies, in both unencrypted and encrypted modes, were black-parachuted to people who were high-up in the Rebellion. The "Three Mockingjays" received one such radio.

Using this new radio, Prim learned from one encrypted frequency that Hammerhead Oleery was Rebellion Supreme Commander now; Lyme Sahad of Two and Distaff Paylor of Eight commanded multiple-district regional brigades; and Alma Coin commanded District Thirteen's brigade-sized army. Sahad, Paylor, and Coin all had the same rank: brigadier general. Prim also learned that one District Thirteen hovercraft was reserved for the Three Mockingjays' use; this hovercraft would take the trio wherever they wished, whenever they wished.

Prim kept hearing "the Gong" mentioned, meaning the very beginning of the Rebellion. Prim picked up the microphone and asked when "the Gong" would be. Hammerhead Oleery himself answered: August 15th.

Prim reported all this news to Twelve's other Victors, by the Victors' Village concrete fountain. The four Victors discussed their options; then Peeta, with great solemnity, proposed to Katniss.

Meanwhile, the Capitol and the Peacekeepers believed everything was peachy-keen.

* * *

 **August 10th**

Prim picked up her telephone and made four calls to the Capitol.

Prim first called Effie. Prim told Effie that Katniss and Peeta would be married at Twelve's Justice Building on the fourteenth of August, with a toasting to follow; and would Effie please come? Effie was aghast at the idea of such a bare-bones wedding, but promised she would be there.

Prim called Cinna second, and Portia third. They too were invited to the wedding, but would be put to work ahead of time. Cinna and Portia were to make wedding-day clothes for Katniss, Peeta, and Prim; and, if time permitted, for Aloe Everdeen and for Haymitch. Cinna and Portia were each excited about attending the wedding, and even _more_ excited about dressing the wedding party.

Prim's fourth telephone call was to Cressida, a young documentary filmmaker. Prim's first words to Cressida were "We've never met, but Hammerhead Oleery recommended you." Prim invited Cressida to film the wedding with a full crew, "if you don't tell 'Victors Tonight' what you're doing till it's too late."

Cressida _squealed_. "You're giving me _an exclusive?_ Primrose, expect me, Messalla, Castor, and Pollux to be there with bells on!"

Prim's work of inviting people to the wedding was conflict-free. Peeta's experience was different.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in Mellark's Bakery**

Peeta had just extended a wedding invitation to his parents and his two older brothers.

" _Four days?_ " Medea Mellark yelled. "You're marrying that _Seam slut_ in _four days?_ "

Peeta before his Reaping would have adopted a soothing tone and would have chosen placating words. But Victor-Peeta's reply was, " _Shut it_ , Mother! Katniss is _not_ a slut, she is my _beloved_ , and she is a _Victor_ now!"

Medea replied, "She's _not_ a slut, huh? There is only _one_ reason for getting married in only four days!" Medea slapped both her hands onto her stomach.

Peeta growled, "August fourteenth, 2 p.m., you're all invited."

Medea said imperiously, "We will _not_ be attending your marriage-registration and toasting with that _Seam slut_. This family has a bakery to run!"

Cake Mellark and Cutter Mellark stared at their shoes.

But Yeast Mellark said, " _I'll_ attend your wedding, Peeta, even if I'm the only Mellark there!" Yeast whirled around to stare down the rest of his family. "I'm _tired_ of feeling like a _coward_ where my little brother is concerned. Also, dear family, I've _met_ Katniss—she's the best woman in _Panem_ for Peeta."

* * *

 **A fool's paradise**

Meanwhile, the Capitol and the Peacekeepers believed everything was peachy-keen.

* * *

 **August 14th (Rebellion Eve)  
In District Twelve**

Peeta and Katniss registered their marriage at the Justice Building (as Cressida filmed them), then held a private toasting in Prim's mansion's living room (as Cressida filmed them). Except for the camera crew and the swanky location for the toasting, this was an everyday Seam wedding.

The not-quite-everyday wedding became even _less_ ordinary when someone asked the groom who had baked the toasting bread, he or his father—

Cake Mellark said, "I didn't bake this bread, so it must be Peeta's."

Peeta said, "Oh, you baked it, but a while ago. This is one of two loaves of multigrain twist-loaf I froze on the day after Katniss and I went on our first date."

To the puzzlement of all the guests, the bride scowled and smacked the groom's arm. "You were supposed to _eat_ that bread!"

A dark-skinned man had attended the marriage-registration and the toasting, but had spoken to nobody except the Twelve Victors. Wedding guests, if they thought about the man at all, presumed he was from District Eleven and had been given special permission to attend the ceremony. Since nobody paid much attention to the dark-skinned man, nobody noticed when Cinna handed him a big envelope that was thick with papers.

Soon after Katniss and Peeta walked across the green to Peeta's mansion, to begin their honeymoon (which they had been practicing for months), most of the wedding guests went home. But staying the night in Victors' Village were Effie (staying in Haymitch's mansion), Cinna and Portia (staying in Katniss's mansion), Cressida and her film crew (staying in Prim's mansion), and the dark-skinned man (staying who-knows-where).

On the evening of August 14th, thirteen people were living or were visiting in District Twelve's Victors' Village. But on the morning of August 15th, Victors' Village had _zero_ people in it, and no cat. By the time Peacekeeper Captain Baxter learned all this, he had more important things on his mind.

* * *

 **August 15th  
In the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol**

On August 15th, which was roughly six weeks after President Snow had crowned Katniss Everdeen, he listened to reports from panicked underlings.

Why were they panicked?

* * *

 **Minutes earlier  
In District Six**

Hovercraft Base Alpha in District Six spotted a single hovercraft decloak just outside the Capitol, headed toward HB Alpha. As a matter of routine, the air-traffic controllers pinged the IFF of the hovercraft; the electronics reported, "It's friendly." The air-traffic controllers at HB Alpha relaxed; they presumed that the lone hovercraft had come from Hovercraft Base Beta.

When the hovercraft was close, it radioed the base: "Alpha, this is Papa Charlie One-One, I request guidance to land. Over."

A bored Peacekeeper picked up the microphone and replied, "I'm supposed to ask you for the authorization code before I can let you land, sorry. Uh, over."

"Authorization code is Quebec India Niner Tango, over."

"One-One, you just gave me _yesterday's_ authorization code. Get your head out of your ass, pilot. Over."

"Wait one." The one hovercraft still was flying toward Hovercraft Base Alpha.

Several seconds later, One-One's pilot replied, "Correction, here is today's authorization code, Base Alpha: _B-B-O-NG-G-G!_ "

The air-traffic controller had just enough time to realize that one decloaked hovercraft had suddenly become _thirty-one_ decloaked hovercraft. Within a second, the radar dish was loudly out of commission; within minutes, the Peacekeeper Corps's white hovercraft that were parked on the ground (which were _all_ of them) were bombed to smithereens. The air-traffic controllers were thinking themselves lucky to have been spa—

* * *

 **A half-hour later  
In the Presidential Mansion**

President Snow had talked to a survivor of the attack, who had _insisted_ that thirty of the attacking hovercraft were gray, not white. Meanwhile, while the nine hovercraft of Hovercraft Base Beta (just west of the Capitol) were unharmed, the Peacekeepers had lost ninety-two percent of their hovercraft force, plus _both_ of their District Six hovercraft factories, in only minutes.

 _District Thirteen has hovercraft in the air, and now we don't_. Snow let himself frown.

Then Snow ordered the execution of the Head Peacekeeper for Hovercraft Base Alpha—except that the man already had suicided.

* * *

 **Within hours**

Peacekeepers in every district were reporting to Snow that they were fighting district residents _who had firearms and explosives_ in every district. Worse, some "district residents" with military-style haircuts seemed _awfully familiar_ with those firearms and explosives.

With all these crises hitting Snow, he barely noticed when he was told that Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee and his assistant Fulvia Cardew both were missing.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in District Twelve  
Capitol Coal Medical Clinic  
**

Urbania was sitting at her desk when she heard shooting through the outside door. _Lots_ of shooting. From two different kinds of guns.

 _A riot?_ Urbania thought. Then she realized, _The rioters have guns. How did_ this _happen?_

Seconds later, the telephone on Urbania's desk rang. Domiducus Jones, the Capitol Liaison, told Urbania, "Miners are rioting. Miners with gunshot wounds shall _not_ be treated by us. Tell Dr. Picardo."

Dr. Picardo's response was "I am a physician. My oath _demands_ I treat whoever comes here for emergency treatment."

"Not _traitors!_ " Nurse Antonia said. "I _refuse_ to treat _traitors!_ And if _you_ treat them, _you're_ a traitor too."

Nurse Antonia looked at Urbania; Antonia's look demanded, _Choose your side_. Urbania did not reply with words, but she frowned at Antonia and moved a half-step closer to Dr. Picardo.

Dr. Picardo looked at Nurse Antonia and said, "So long as you feel this way, you are off duty, without pay. Now leave."

Nurse Antonia refused to leave, and also refused to treat "traitor monkeys." She did not leave until Dr. Picardo grabbed her by the arm and dragged her outside.

Once Antonia was gone, Dr. Picardo said to Urbania, "You remember the layout of Victors' Village from yesterday, right? _Run_ to Primrose's mansion, fetch Aloe Everdeen, and the two of you _run_ back here. _Stat!_ "

It was Urbania who discovered that, except for a bleating goat, Victors' Village was completely deserted.

Urbania ran back to the medical clinic and gave Dr. Picardo the bad news. Then Urbania tried, as best she could, to do the emergency-room nurse's job that she was completely untrained for.

* * *

 **The next day**

Snow learned that captured Peacekeepers in District Seven were axed to death, within minutes of capture, by Johanna Mason.

Johanna Mason ordered a Rebel soldier to carry a note into District Seven's Peacekeeper Barracks, under flag of truce: "You killed my entire family. It's payback time, losers. If you don't surrender, you die. Of course, you can kill me first—if you stupid potbellied tiny-dicked psychos are man enough. Tell Cory I'll enjoy chopping his arms and legs off—a centimeter at a time."

It occurred to Snow that if he had treated Johanna Mason more humanely during her Victory Tour, he would not have so many dead District Seven Peacekeepers now. Snow dismissed the thought.

* * *

 **A week later**

Capitol propaganda had painted Johanna as an evil archvillainess, a mass murderess—for a week. Then holo viewers saw, and shortwave listeners heard, a very different message.

The three teenaged Twelve Victors appeared on holo, standing side by side. But now they each were wearing armor—

Primrose's armor was all-yellow, Peeta's all was sunset-orange, and Katniss's armor all was forest-green. Katniss's armor was modified for an archer's needs; Peeta's armor was modified for his larger size and male body. Each Victor had a design on the left breast of his or her armor—Primrose had a red mockingjay inside a red circle; Katniss had the letters "FSTP" painted in red; and Peeta's armor showed the black Capitol Seal, with a dripping red _X_ painted over the Seal.

Katniss stood holding a bow in her right hand; and arrows could be seen beyond her left shoulder. Peeta and Primrose each had a knife strapped to a forearm.

Peeta and Katniss each wore a gold band on the third finger of their left hands.

Peeta said, "Folks, let's talk about Johanna Mason, who has killed captured Peacekeepers. We admit this. But what the Capitol has not told you is _why_. Back during Johanna's Victory Tour, President Snow told Johanna to do something she absolutely refused to do. I know what he told her, but I won't spill it—it is Johanna's story to tell. Just know, folks, that if Snow had told _me_ to do this thing, I would have refused too."

Primrose said, "Same here. In a heartbeat."

Katniss said, "I would have told Snow to shove a hot poker up his butt."

Peeta resumed: "Within two weeks of Johanna refusing Snow, Johanna's parents, her sister, her brother, his wife, and their child, as well as Johanna's boyfriend—all died in 'accidents.' What made these people so fatally unlucky? They each were close to a Victor who had said _no_ to President Snow."

Peeta sighed. "The three of us—Prim, Katniss, and me—pledge to not kill any captives. We three want to think we are _in every way_ better than the Capitol."

Prim said, "Lucky for us, this isn't hard to do. My cat Buttercup is in every way better than the Capitol."

Katniss said, "Except Buttercup spits up disgusting hairballs."

Peeta said, "But we don't condemn Johanna for killing captured Peacekeepers." Peeta looked at Prim and Katniss, who shook their heads. "We don't condemn Johanna because we understand _why she does it_. We three leave it to those whose own hands drip with blood to hypocritically bad-mouth Johanna."

* * *

 **The next day**

During the week before the Three Mockingjays' message, people in both the Capitol and the districts had asked themselves, "Has Johanna slipped over the edge? Is she full-blown _crazy_ now? Is she _evil?_ "

But after the Three Mockingjays' broadcast, the question changed to, "What did Snow tell Johanna to do that she refused to do?" Both Capitols and district people agreed that Snow's order must be for something certainly sexual, and probably disgusting.

Then a rumor went around that Johanna had cried when she had heard the Three Mockingjays on shortwave. Many people refused to believe the rumor, because everyone knew: Johanna Mason _never_ cried.

* * *

 **The Three Mockingjays: the legend begins**

This was the first of many propaganda messages given by the Three Mockingjays, and delivered by hijacked holo and by shortwave. Over time, the Three Mockingjays developed specializations.

Peeta talked honestly and in plain language—when the Rebellion did bad things (which was seldom), he admitted them; so people believed him when he said that the Capitol did bad things. Peeta always explained, with plain words and honesty, why district people felt they needed to overthrow the Capitol. Peeta talked to the viewer/listener as if Peeta were there in the house, talking over beers. District people completely believed Peeta (despite repeated smears by the Capitol), and many Capitols believed Peeta; while only Capitol diehards believed Capitol propaganda.

Primrose was the heart of the Three Mockingjays—she comforted small children, the injured, and the scared. When the Three Mockingjays visited field hospitals (this happened twice), Primrose asked every patient she met, "Do you need treatment? Is there anything I can do for you?" Both times that Primrose walked into a field hospital, she walked out with bloodstains on her yellow armor.

All three Mockingjays had been given assault rifles, but at first Peeta and Primrose fired them with the same skill that other Reaped-district fighters did: with lousy aim and with bullets wasted. Katniss, on the other hand, handled her assault rifle as if she had been in combat since age eleven. Katniss was an _uncanny_ shot.

Katniss switched back and forth between her bow/quiver and her assault rifle, as she felt the need. _Huh?_ Why would the deadliest archer in Panem even _pick up_ a firearm?

Katniss explained that her assault rifle reloaded itself in less than a second, and bullets were easier to replace than arrows; but her assault rifle also made a muzzle flash, which was "a problem." Still, the muzzle-flash "problem" was not a big bother—Katniss could break cover, fire three single shots (which _always_ meant three kills), and duck behind cover before the bad guys could shoot back.

Meanwhile, Katniss using her bow and quiver was a deadly ghost—especially at night, when Katniss borrowed her sister's darkness-vision glasses. A bow, the Peacekeepers learned the hard way, did not make a muzzle flash or a _bang_.

When Katniss was calm, she let Peeta do the talking; but the Mockingjays' most memorable lines all came from Katniss when she was furious. ("People of the Capitol, are you _proud of yourselves_ for cheering the deaths of eighteen hundred children?")

The Three Mockingjays were never holo-filmed "fighting" fake battles in a studio, nor were they ever filmed "fighting" staged battles away from the battlefield. Almost all of the Three Mockingjays' first propaganda messages were of them fighting in Reaped-District X, alongside Rebels from Reaped-District X. Soon the propaganda messages changed into the Three Mockingjays fighting alongside Rebels from District X and District Y, as they all fought to liberate District Y. Eventually the Three Mockingjays were filmed being shot-at in every Reaped district in Panem. If there were Rebels who thought _I will fight Peacekeepers only in my own district_ , the Three Mockingjays' propaganda messages shamed such Rebels into silence.

* * *

 **Meeting Plutarch and Fulvia**

The Three Mockingjays met only once with Plutarch Heavensbee, the supposed expert on "propos" (propaganda messages), and with his assistant, Fulvia Cardew. The meeting did not go well—

Heavensbee proclaimed, "According to experts at Capitol University, propaganda messages are more effective if they use certain words with strong emotional appeal. You should learn these words, and use them."

Fulvia said, "Here is a message that will be very effective, because the message uses _seven_ emotional-appeal words: 'People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!' "

The Three Mockingjays exchanged looks. Katniss rolled her eyes.

Peeta said to Heavensbee and Fulvia, "No. We won't say this."

Katniss explained, "Because it's _stupid_."

Primrose said to the Capitols, "Y'all need to think up something _real_ people would say."

The two Capitols' offended expressions reminded Peeta, Katniss, and Primrose of Alma Coin's sourpuss expression in Haymitch's basement.

* * *

 **The Three Mockingjays: advisors**

As the Three Mockingjays traveled from district to district in their Thirteen-loaned hovercraft, showing up wherever they felt they were most needed, they quickly gained an entourage. Besides the Three Mockingjays themselves, and the three Thirteens of the flight crew, also riding in the gray hovercraft were—

• Cressida and three other young Capitol defectors, who made up the film crew; and

• Cinna the stylist, Portia the stylist, Effie the District Twelve escort, and Haymitch.

The Thirteens of the flight crew were snooty at first, but this lasted only a month. Peeta's theory was that the flight-crew Thirteens had watched (or had listened to) the Three Mockingjays' messages.

In the days before Peeta's and Katniss's wedding, Cinna had freely admitted to being a secret Rebel, going back to his own teenaged years. Portia had nodded in agreement.

Now on the hovercraft, Effie clearly was torn—she obviously cared for her "lovely Victors"; but it was clear to everyone that, had Effie never become an escort, she would have gone through her entire life as an unquestioning, loyal Capitol.

Still, the question could be asked: What were Effie, Cinna, and Portia doing on the hovercraft in the first place?

Officially, there was no reason for two stylists and a Hunger Games escort to ride along with the Three Mockingjays; only Haymitch could claim that he served a purpose. But the actual role of the three Capitol adults was to give their own advice and comfort to the teenagers; Cinna was _amazing_ at calming down Katniss when she was ranting.

(Not to mention, watching Haymitch and Effie flirting, and Cinna and Portia flirting, provided _hours_ of entertainment for Peeta, Prim, and Katniss.)

* * *

 **Six months after the start of the Rebellion**

The puny remnant of the Capitol's hovercraft force, all based at Hovercraft Base Beta, made a gutsy surprise flight to District Thirteen, where they tried to bomb the daylights out of the "rabbit warren."

District Thirteen survived. Most of Beta's hovercraft squadron did not, after gray Thirteen hovercraft decloaked _behind_ the HB Beta invaders.

To add insult to injury, the Capitol had left itself temporarily defenseless from the air, and the Rebellion showed Snow that this was unwise. A lone gray hovercraft, uncloaked, dropped a silver-parachuted confetti "bomb" over the front entrance gates to the Presidential Mansion.

Point made.

* * *

 **Seven months after the start of the Rebellion**

Panem was almost all in Rebel control; only the Capitol and District Two still were under Loyalist control.

The Rebellion's Who's Who all were in District Two: the Three Mockingjays, Major General Hammerhead Oleery, Oleery's three brigadier generals (Lyme Sahad, Distaff Paylor, and Alma Coin), along with the three generals' armies.

The Rebels faced a huge challenge: digging the Loyalists out of the Mount AEterna Defensive Complex without the Loyalists launching nuclear missiles at the other districts.

Actually, the Rebels faced a second challenge, one they did not know about yet—

Alma Coin had been biding her time, waiting for the right opportunity to seize glory. This opportunity would come soon, she was sure.


	37. Armed with Only a Pillowcase

In the comments for Chapter 36 of this story on AO3, Gadge 'shippers rebuked me for not giving enough story to Gale and Madge. As a result, I've tried to put some Gadge stuff into this, the story's next-to-last chapter. However, at the risk of making the Gadge 'shippers unhappy with me again—

In canon, after Snow ordered hovercraft to bomb Twelve (which killed Madge, among thousands of others), Gale led the evacuation of hundreds of Twelve people into the woods. Eventually Thirteen hovercraft found the Twelve refugees and rescued them. Gale's actions impressed Coin, and Gale became Coin's favorite Twelve refugee. We all know how _this_ turned out.

But in my AU, none of this has happened—Twelve is not bombed, and so Madge is still alive. _But_ , seven months into the Rebellion, Gale is merely one more Rebel corporal.

I've been planning the "Prim walks into the Nut, under truce" plot point since the end of Chapter 9.

 **Chapter 37**  
 **Armed with Only a Pillowcase**

 **Meanwhile, in the Capitol**

While the Rebel generals were trying to figure out how to capture the Mount AEterna Defensive Complex in District Two, Coriolanus Snow was feeling unhappy with his world.

Since District Five had been taken by the Rebels, the Capitol was without electricity now, except for the hours of 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Perhaps not coincidentally, these same hours of electricity off-electricity on were what the Capitol had imposed on "electrical loads not in the national interest" (meaning, private homes) in the districts until a few months ago. Now in the Capitol, after 10 p.m., only the Presidential Mansion, Victor Health Hospital, and other government buildings were lit. For decades, Snow had pulled this stunt on district people to make clear how helpless they were; now it was Capitol citizens feeling demoralized as they sat in the dark.

Another reason Snow was unhappy: The Capitol was starving, almost. Trains headed from Districts Four, Nine, Ten, and Eleven toward the Capitol were stopped by the Rebels and were looted in an orderly fashion. The only food that Major General Oleery allowed to enter the Capitol? Tesserae grain.

Snow recalled that during the Dark Days—what the Rebels now insisted on calling "the First Rebellion"—the Capitol forces had enjoyed air superiority, especially after District Thirteen had been nuked. The last "battle" of the Dark Days had been the desperate rebels trying to attack the Capitol by coming overland over the surrounding mountains. For the Capitol hovercraft of seventy-five years ago, the "battle" had been like shooting fish in a barrel; rebel casualties had been 95 percent.

But now the air-superiority shoe was on the other foot. The Rebels could move their troops around at will, while Peacekeeper forces were pinned in place. The Capitol's four remaining hovercraft had one task only: to protect the Capitol from Rebel paratroopers and from Rebel hovercraft that intended to drop bombs.

Snow _yearned_ with every cell of his body to drop bombs on District Twelve, home district of insolent Haymitch Abernathy and of the Three Mockingjays; and Snow _especially_ yearned to bomb Twelve's Victors' Village into splinters (hopefully with everyone at home at the time)—but Snow did not have the hovercraft to spare for such a mission. Now Snow _almost_ pounded the desk with his fist in frustration.

The worse part was, Snow had only himself to blame. Twenty-three years ago, Snow had guessed wrong about the future; and because of this misprediction, Snow had made three bad decisions—which were now making his life hell.

In HG 52, District Thirteen had been hit by a Pox that had killed many Thirteens and had sterilized many more. When the one Capitol spy in Thirteen had himself died of the Pox, Snow had predicted that District Thirteen would never be a threat to the Capitol again.

Snow's first bad decision, back then: He had not recruited another spy in Thirteen. Oh, at the time, he could have listed three or four reasons why recruiting another spy in Thirteen was an "impossible task"; but in fact, Snow had felt he did not _need_ a spy in Thirteen, so why bother?

Snow's second bad decision in HG 52: He had let Peacekeeper-training standards slip. Henceforth, Peacekeepers were trained to be goons, not soldiers.

Since HG 52, and until the Second Rebellion began, Peacekeepers filled their days terrorizing sullen unarmed district residents, and the Peacekeepers had become experts at torture and other methods for questioning arrested district people. Peacekeeper riot-control training for the past twenty-three years presumed that when Peacekeepers had to fight against district people, the district fighters were desperate, poorly armed, and poorly trained. But could the Peacekeepers now fight as a _professional army_ , against District Thirteen's professional army? Not even slightly.

Snow was forced to admit that Johanna Mason was right about one thing: Many Peacekeepers _were_ potbellied.

The Capitol's only good luck right now was that district residents with firearms were almost inept as soldiers. Except for the _accursed_ Katniss Mellark!

Snow's third bad decision in HG 52: He had allowed Loyalists to become sloppy at hiding the secret of hovercraft stealth. Nor had Snow ever demanded that District Three cook up countermeasures for stealth technology, because Snow had never expected to worry about stealthed enemy hovercraft.

The Capitol being loose-lipped about stealth technology, and Snow's own overconfidence, had led directly to thirty District Thirteen hovercraft being able to fly undetected to Hovercraft Base Alpha, last August 15th, then to destroy every Peacekeeper hovercraft on the ground.

So now the Capitol was on a tesserae-only diet, the Capitol had electricity only when the Capitol's enemies allowed current to flow, the skies over most of Panem were a District Thirteen pilot's playpen, and Snow knew he was on borrowed time as president.

Snow idly wondered what form his execution would take.

It was a good thing that Snow had foreseen to send his granddaughter Minerva to District Two. The same mountain that protected the Capitol's nuclear missiles from Rebel attack surely would protect one fifteen-year-old girl.

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
In the tent of Brigadier General Distaff Paylor  
Somewhere in District Two**

Gale Hawthorne walked into the tent, stopped, came to attention, and saluted. "Corporal Gale Hawthorne, reporting as ordered, ma'am."

General Paylor returned the salute, then spent several seconds quietly looking Gale over. What she saw looked like a tall coal miner in overalls, except that on each collar-tip of Gale's shirt were double chevrons, hand-drawn with a laundry pen; with this same laundry pen, Gale had hand-written "HAWTHORNE" on his overalls.

"At ease, Corporal Hawthorne," General Paylor said in a kind voice. "As you were."

Now Gale looked at General Paylor. What he saw was a dark-skinned factory foreperson in her thirties—but one who had a silver star embroidered on each collar-tip of her workshirt, and whose name was embroidered above the pocket of her workshirt.

General Paylor picked up a clipboard, leafed through its pages, and looked at Gale. "Everyone between you and me in the chain of command thinks the world of you, Gale. You're brave almost to reckless, you show initiative, and you're resourceful in a crisis. If the districts win this—and now it looks like we will—Panem's army will _need_ people like you, much more than any coal mine will. Please consider staying in the army after the war ends. I'm told you've got what it takes to eventually become a command sergeant major—that is, if you haven't been offered a commission first."

Gale said, "I was just doing the job I signed up to do, ma'am. To free district people and kill Peacekeepers."

General Paylor said, "I'm also told"—she pointed to Gale with a corner of the clipboard—"that you aren't a whiner or complainer. So _why_ have you requested a transfer to General Coin's Thirteen Brigade?"

"Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

"Granted."

"If it were up to me, if I somehow could do it, I'd defeat all the Peacekeepers still fighting—then I would kill _every_ captured Peacekeeper, just like Johanna Mason does. Thousands of captured Peacekeepers— _boom_ , all dead by me. Then, when the Capitol had no defenders, I'd walk into the Capitol and I'd yell, 'Surrender today, or die today.' Then I'd do it. It wouldn't matter to me if a Capitol person was a twelve-year-old girl or an old man—if I had to hunt for them, if they hid, when I found them, I'd kill them without mercy. _Boom_ , thousands of rainbows, all dead by me."

Paylor looked horrified. "How does ... what you feel, tie in to your request for transfer?"

"Ma'am, Peeta Mellark, in his shortwave messages, talks about 'Some things I will never do.' He says 'I'm better than the Capitol.' I think that you, and General Sahad, and General Oleery, think the same way—that we should be _nice_ to Capitols. But General Coin, I am sure, does _not_ think like Peeta, I think she thinks like _me_. Plus, General Coin's army"—he gestured down at his miner's coveralls—" _looks_ like an army."

General Paylor looked at Gale, as several expressions played over her face. "Transfer granted," she finally said, as she wrote on the first page of the clipboard. "Be here in front of my tent in twenty minutes with your gear. I'll have my driver take you directly to General Coin."

* * *

 **Meanwhile  
In the train-station warehouse, District Twelve**

Acting Mayor Madge Undersee walked into the huge room where all but two Capitol civilians were held as prisoners of war. The Capitols were guarded by coughing old miners and by one hateful teenage girl.

(Who was _not_ being held in the huge coal-storage room? Dr. Josephus Picardo had the free run of District Twelve, treating both injured Rebels and injured Peacekeepers; while Urbania Patterson had joined the Rebellion. District Twelve Peacekeepers, whether they had been captured or had surrendered, were being kept in their own jail, guarded by Rebel Peacekeepers Darius MacGregor and Purnia Wainwright. Paulus Cray was _very_ dead.)

Now Madge announced to the civilian prisoners of war, "People of the Capitol, I thought you'd like to know: District Eleven's Peacekeepers surrendered yesterday. Now all we need to do is to take District Two, and the Capitol is helpless. The war will be over soon."

"The Capitol won't go down without a fight!" said former Capitol Liaison Domiducus Jones. Several voices agreed: "Yeah!"

Madge looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Hm, well-fed Rebels fighting against Capitols who have been eating nothing but tesserae for months and months. Think back to the Hunger Games—when well-fed Careers met up with skinny Twelve tributes, what usually happened?"

It was Gamma Churchill who answered Madge's question: "The tesserae-eaters usually died. Slowly and painfully." She grinned at the Capitols.

Domiducus Jones coughed. When his coughing fit subsided, he said to Madge, "This air is dusty. It's a health hazard. You are abusing us prisoners."

Madge turned to a gray-bearded ex-miner. "Willyim, what do you say to this?"

The old man laughed at the Capitol Liaison. "Sure is funny how coal dust in the air didn't worry you rainbows when _we_ was breathing it."

Madge said, "Finally, a personal note. My fiancé Gale, right about now"—Madge glanced at her watch—"is meeting with General Paylor, requesting a transfer to General Coin. Gale thinks that if he's with Coin, he'll get a chance to kill more Capitols."

Madge walked up to Antonia Wilson who, alone of all the civilian Capitol prisoners of war, was in restraints: fetters prevented Antonia from running. Madge said to Antonia, "After Gale kills all the Capitols that our army will let him kill, he wants to come back here for your _murder trial_. And when it comes time for you and your Peacekeeper boyfriend to die for the murder of _my father, Gale's would-be father-in-law_ , Gale wants to be the executioner."

Antonia said, "Mayor Undersee was supposed to support _the Capitol_ , but he was meeting with _Rebels_. He was a _traitor_ , so I shot him!"

Madge rolled her eyes. "For the one-thousandth time: My father, the elected mayor, was meeting with the Rebel _leaders_ , and also with _Head Peacekeeper Baxter_ , to negotiate a cease-fire. A cease-fire that one Capitol nurse with a borrowed gun managed to ruin any chance for."

Madge looked at the Capitols. "From the day my father Chonn Undersee became mayor, years before I was born, he had to grovel in front of you rainbows. It ate at him. It wore him down. But _I'm_ mayor now, and I tell you that the days when Twelve's mayor was the Capitol's lapdog, those days are _over_."

Now Madge looked at the former Capitol Liaison. "So Domiducus—do you mind if I call you Domiducus? Silly me, it doesn't matter whether you mind or not, does it?—anyway, Domiducus, it takes _years_ of exposure to coal dust to get black lung. But if you _do_ get black lung, from sitting in this warehouse for several months? Tough. Shit."

With those words, Madge walked out.

* * *

 **Thirty minutes later  
In the tent of Brigadier General Alma Coin  
Somewhere else in District Two**

As General Coin read through the papers that General Paylor had sent, Gale stood at attention and felt very self-conscious. In this entire camp, everyone else was dressed smartly in matching gray uniforms—the officers, the sergeants, even the privates. Gale, on the other hand, looked like a coal miner. _"Coal-grubber," I bet they're thinking_.

General Coin laid General Paylor's papers down on her field desk, walked over to the holoprojector, and turned it on. A small version of the Mount AEterna Defensive Complex appeared. "Corporal Hawthorne, come here. Two of your former superiors think you are officer material, so I will ask you an officer question."

When Gale was standing by the holo-image, General Coin began to point. "The coverings for the missile silos are here. Five silos means five missiles—probably to destroy Districts Nine, Ten, and Eleven; and Thirteen rates two missiles. Two radar dishes on top—one rotates, one is aimed at District Thirteen's missile silos at all times. We presume that if we try to destroy this place with a nuclear missile, they will launch all five of their own missiles before the mountain is hit; so a nuclear attack on the complex is foolish. At ground level, you have a door that is just big enough for a train to enter or leave. Here, here, and here are entrances to tunnels that are only tall enough and wide enough for two men side-by-side to walk through. A tank can't enter any of the walk-in tunnels, so these tunnels are easy to defend. Four Rebel generals have been trying to figure out how to capture this place, plus Thirteen's own Colonel Boggs, who currently is detached as General Oleery's chief of staff. We're all stumped."

Gale was silent for only three seconds before he said, "Why do you need to capture it at all? Remove it instead. As a threat." Pointing as he talked, Gale explained his idea.

General Coin looked at Gale with wide eyes. "Hovercraft-created avalanches? This would work. It would _work_ , and it would not waste resources." General Coin rushed back to her field desk and rang a handbell. An aide appeared.

General Coin said to the aide, "Soldier Hawthorne is transferred to our brigade and is _commissioned_ , effective immediately. Issue Second Lieutenant Hawthorne everything he needs."

Then General Coin looked at Gale. "Attention to orders, Lieutenant. After you have put up your tent and have been issued uniforms with proper rank, weapons, ammunition, and a sleeping bag, report back to me at once. I intend to ask for a meeting with General Oleery where you will _star_."

General Coin _almost_ smiled then.

As Gale saluted, then left the general's tent, he thought, _Madge will be so proud of me_.

* * *

 **Two hours later  
In the tent of Major General Hammerhead Oleery**

Present were all four generals, their respective chiefs of staff, the Three Mockingjays—and brand-new Second Lieutenant Gale Hawthorne in gray uniform. Gale was surprised to recognize gray-uniformed Col. Boggs as the silent dark-skinned man who had attended Katniss's and Peeta's wedding day.

Now Gale gave the presentation. It did not take long, because Gale's idea was simple—once all plans for _mercy_ were trashcanned.

After Gale gave his presentation, the inside of the tent was silent. General Coin looked smug; the other three generals looked sick. Peeta looked horrified, Prim was glaring at General Coin, and Katniss—

Katniss said, "Gale, your plan would kill everyone inside! There are _civilians_ in there!"

Gale replied coolly, "So? Civilians in there aren't shooting at us, but they're helping the people who _are_ shooting at us."

Prim said, "Gale, do you hear what you're _saying?_ This is the same evil logic Snow uses to keep the Games going!"

General Oleery held up a hand, stopping Gale and the Everdeen sisters from further argument. "Col. Boggs, Generals Paylor and Sahad, your comments?"

Col. Boggs paused to stare at General Coin. Then he said, "If we are going to set morality and ethics aside, we should bomb the railroad tracks just outside the mountain, so that no train can arrive or leave. Setting morality and ethics aside, Lt. Hawthorne's idea is brilliant."

"Brilliantly _evil_ ," Katniss muttered, glaring at Gale.

General Distaff Paylor had been staring at Gale, from the moment he had begun his presentation, as if he had grown two heads. Now she said only, "This is _exactly_ the plan that the Capitol would invent, if our situations were reversed. The Capitol _never_ limits its cruelty."

General Lyme Sahad said, "I must reluctantly agree with Col. Boggs. I see no other plan that will work."

She added, "Which is an awful shame. Rumor has it that Minerva Snow is stashed somewhere inside the mountain, so _be sure_ that General Marcus will not just let us walk in and take the place over."

Gale was looking at Katniss then, not at Prim. But in Gale's peripheral vision, he saw yellow-armored Prim startle.

General Oleery said sadly, "I will adjourn this meeting till [slightly over an hour later], so that somebody can come up with another plan. A plan that also will work, and that _spares the innocents_. When we meet again, we will begin implementing either this new _humane_ plan, or Lt. Hawthorne's plan as amended by Col. Boggs. Dismissed."

* * *

 **A half-minute later**

Prim said to Peeta and Katniss, "I have an idea. It's either the smartest idea I've ever had, or the stupidest." Prim briefly described her idea.

Katniss, who had not been a part of Prim's and Peeta's Victory Tour, asked, "Can we trust this Peacekeeper General Marcus?"

" _Yes_ ," Prim and Peeta said together.

Katniss said, "Then let's talk to General Oleery. If he says yes, where are Cressida and her crew? If I die, let's get it on film."

* * *

 **Five minutes later**

Gale, who was walking near to General Oleery's tent, saw the Three Mockingjays walk out of that tent.

"Gale, please stop for a moment," Katniss said softly.

Gale frowned. "Catnip, you've already told me what you think about my attack plan. Why do I want to hear it _again?_ "

Then Gale _noticed_ —

Gale noticed the expression on the faces of Katniss, Prim, and Peeta: all three looked like Reaped tributes in the Justice Building.

Gale noticed that Katniss's bow and quiver, which had been on her back in the meeting of minutes ago, was now gone. The knives that Prim and Peeta wore on their forearms—the knives were gone too. Katniss, Prim, and Peeta carried _no weapons at all_ , either in their hands or within reach.

Gale noticed that Prim was holding a walkie-talkie, while Peeta was holding a folded-up pillowcase. Gale was puzzled, till he realized he was looking at a folded-up _white_ pillowcase—and what this meant the Three Mockingjays were planning.

"Catnip," Gale choked, "what are you _doing?_ "

Katniss quietly said, "Trying to end the war without any more bunches of people dying. Be good to Madge, Gale, she deserves it."

Then Katniss reached up, pulled Gale's head down, and kissed him on the cheek. _This is Katniss saying goodbye_ , Gale thought.

Gale had barely noticed as the Three Mockingjays' camera crew had climbed into an open army truck, but had not driven off. The truck that the camera crew had chosen was only for use within the camp: It had no gun mount, no armor, and no roof.

Now Gale watched as the Three Mockingjays and a radio operator climbed into another open and defenseless army truck. Then the two trucks drove straight for Mount AEterna.

Gale wanted to weep then, to cry and to sob as he had not cried since the day of the mine disaster. He was sure he would never see his best friend again.

Gale _wanted_ to weep. Instead, dry-eyed, Gale walked into General Coin's tent and reported—

"I think the Three Mockingjays are entering the mountain under flag of truce, to try to persuade the Peacekeepers inside to surrender."

General Coin's reply was strange: "I sure would like to know whether Minerva Snow is in there."

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

The two Rebel trucks had stopped within sight of one of the mountain tunnels, but hopefully far enough away that the Peacekeepers at the tunnel entrance would not shoot at the trucks.

Orange-armored Peeta stepped out of the truck first, waving the white pillowcase. Forest-green-armored Katniss and yellow-armored Prim stepped out of the truck and stood on either side of Peeta. Prim had the walkie-talkie down at her side.

The radio operator, who was looking through binoculars from the back of the truck, reported, "One of the Peacekeepers is talking on a telephone. He seems calm."

Peeta said, "No problem. Telephones don't shoot bullets."

Katniss looked at Cressida in the other truck. "Start filming now."

* * *

 **Two minutes later  
Just outside the east-side tunnel  
Mount AEterna Defensive Complex**

The Three Mockingjays, unarmed, stood five meters away from two Peacekeepers who were armed—but at the moment, were not acting hostile. Peeta took the opportunity to fold up the pillowcase.

Prim spoke into the walkie-talkie: "Last radio check. I'm at the tunnel entrance."

The voice of the radio operator came back: "We see you. I read you loud and clear. You have thirty-seven minutes to get in and get out. May the odds be in your favor."

"Understood. Primrose Everdeen out." Prim turned off the walkie-talkie.

Peeta said to the two Peacekeepers, "We are here under flag of truce to talk to Peacekeeper General Marcus about surrender."

" _Your_ surrender?" one of the Peacekeepers said in surprise.

"No, _yours_ ," Katniss said. "And if you're smart, you'll do it."

* * *

 **One minute later  
Inside the complex**

A Peacekeeper Lieutenant was leading the Three Mockingjays to this Peacekeeper General Marcus whom Prim and Peeta had so much faith in. Katniss's own faith in her sister and her husband was now being tested.

From the day that Katniss had walked onto the Reaping stage, wearing her first-date green dress and her father's bronze medal, she had been stared at. As a tribute, Katniss had been stared at; and as a Victor, she had been stared at. As one of the Three Mockingjays, the Rebels stared at Katniss as if she were a goddess of the bow and arrow.

But now inside the mountain, the stares that Katniss (and Prim, and Peeta) got were hateful. Right now a green-wigged young civilian woman, who was carrying file folders, was glaring at Katniss.

The many, many Peacekeepers inside the mountain were looking hatefully at Katniss too, and all of _them_ had pistols on their hips. Katniss thought, _It takes only one showoff with a pistol, who wants to go down in history_.

But Katniss did not let her fear show. She lifted her chin a little higher, and looked into the eyes of everyone who was looking at her.

* * *

 **Two minutes later  
In an MAEDC conference room**

Katniss was feeling left out. Prim and Peeta, and Peacekeeper General Marcus, all acted like old friends. Minerva Snow—whom Katniss had met _once_ , and had talked-to for two minutes total—was likewise chummy with Prim and Peeta.

Besides the Three Mockingjays, General Marcus, some Peacekeeper lackeys of General Marcus, and fifteen-year-old Minerva Snow, one other person was in the conference room: Two's furious Capitol Liaison. If looks could kill, all three Mockingjays would be blackened bones by now.

Now General Marcus laid his hands flat on the table. He looked at the Three Mockingjays and said, "You told the sentries that you're here to discuss our surrender. Why would we do this?"

Prim said, "In a little over thirty minutes, the Rebels will _murder_ this mountain. They will not allow escape. They will not allow surrender. Everyone inside will die."

"Preposterous! Ridiculous!" the Capitol man yelled. 'This mountain is designed to _laugh off_ attacks from coal-grubbers and dirt farmers."

General Marcus said mildly, "Mr. Pendergast, please be quiet. Miss Everdeen, any plan that would guarantee we can't get _out_ , means that the Rebels can't get _in_. We have five valuable nuclear missiles in here—I'm sure your people want control of them."

Peeta said, "General Oleery would write them off. Because after all, District Thirteen has missiles of its own; we don't _need_ yours."

"General Marcus," the Capitol man said, "I _order_ you to take these three _traitors_ prisoner. The Rebels won't kill everyone in here, even if such a thing were _possible_ , when the"—he sneered—" _Three Mockingjays_ are in here too."

Peeta laughed. "You, Mr. Pendergast, have never been a Victor. The way I figure it, I've been dead for almost two years, since Reaping Day—I just haven't stopped breathing yet. I'm not scared of being held in a jail here when General Oleery starts getting playful—and General Oleery won't change his plans just because he thinks you're holding us prisoner."

General Marcus said, "Mr. Pendergast, you are speaking outside of your authority. You may give orders only to Two's _mayor_ ; you are _here_ only in an advisory role. And since you have no clue what is at stake here, I reject your 'order.' "

One of the Peacekeeper advisors said, "General Marcus, I think these three are bluffing. If there were some can't-miss way to kill us all, the Rebels would have already used it. After all, district people don't believe in right and wrong like we do."

General Marcus shook his head. "If the Rebels are willing to write off our missiles, I can think of _one_ tactic guaranteed to kill all of us."

He smiled at the Mockingjays. "You'll pardon me if I don't spell out this tactic in front of _you_."

General Marcus again spoke to the "They're bluffing" Peacekeeper: "If we all make it out of here alive, watch holos of these three again in their Games. Each of them had a moment where they killed someone and _regretted_ it. Primrose here was _in agony_ after she killed my granddaughter. So _I_ believe that _these three_ believe that we here all are doomed unless we walk out in surrender, and they're here now because they don't want us on their consciences."

Peeta nodded. "It is exactly as you say, General Marcus. If you stay here, you will die. _All_ of you. We three don't want this."

"I believe you," General Marcus said. "Will the Rebels guarantee the safety of Minerva Snow?"

Prim said, "General Oleery will guarantee her safety, and _Peeta and I_ will guarantee her safety. After all, Minerva is our _only friend_ in the Capitol."

Minerva Snow's smile lit up the room.

General Marcus said, "Well, then, we surrender. I'll make the announcement now."

Katniss nearly fell out of her chair. She had to _work_ to put an "I knew it all along" expression on her face.

Mr. Pendergast spoke words, but General Marcus and the Three Mockingjays both ignored those words.

* * *

 **Minutes later  
Outside the east-side tunnel**

The Three Mockingjays walked out first, as Prim talked into her walkie-talkie. Then Peacekeepers walked out next, beginning with General Marcus. (Marcus was unarmed, but he was holding a radio of his own.) The Peacekeepers' hands were in the air, and no Peacekeeper carried or wore any firearm. In orderly rows, the Peacekeepers knelt and put their hands behind their heads.

Then the civilians walked out. The first civilian to walk out of the Mount AEterna Defensive Complex was Minerva Snow (who smiled bravely at Prim and Peeta).

The last civilian out, Prim recognized, was Pontius Pendergast. He glared at the Three Mockingjays.

Peacekeeper General Marcus spoke into his radio. "FUBAR. I say again, FUBAR."

About ten seconds later, eight unarmed Peacekeepers ran out of the tunnel. As soon as each of them was out of the tunnel, he immediately ran to his left.

Seconds after this—WHUMP.

Prim heard a _loud_ explosion inside the mountain—an explosion that she _felt_ through her shoes, and that made every standing person stagger. Debris shot out of the tunnel as if the tunnel were a giant shotgun.

Katniss blurted, "Fuck, it's another mine explosion!"

Puzzled Prim looked at Peacekeeper General Marcus. He explained, "I said I'd surrender _us_. I never said I'd surrender _the missiles_. The controls to fire the missiles are now so much twisted junk."

The surrendered Peacekeepers and civilians cheered and clapped. Pontius Pendergast grinned savagely at the Three Mockingjays.

Prim shrugged. "I can live with that."

Actually, it was all Prim could do not to grin. She had cooked up a very risky plan, but it had _worked_. Her plan had worked perfec—

Four Rebel-army vehicles raced up to the standing civilians and kneeling Peacekeepers—four _gray_ Rebel-army vehicles. These vehicles were not open and defenseless; they were armored, with gun mounts. Right now, each gun mount was _manned_ , and facing the surrendered Peacekeepers.

As soon as the four gray vehicles stopped, enlisted soldiers from District Thirteen scampered out of them, along with Lt. Jackson. Prim was as confused as Peacekeeper General Marcus about what was happening.

The passenger-side door of the leading gray vehicle opened, and General Coin stepped out. She pointed into the crowd of surrendered civilians and yelled, " _That girl is Minerva Snow. Bring her here_."


	38. Karma

Reminder: Prim's reference to "powdered donuts" refers to events in Chapter 4.

 **Chapter 38**  
 **Karma**

"What are you _doing?_ " Peeta yelled, sounding more confused than angry. "Minerva Snow is under General Oleery's protection. And under Prim's and mine."

Alma Coin gave Prim, Peeta, and Katniss all dismissive up-and-down looks. "You are unarmed at the moment, _children_ , and the Victor is not here now."

That's when Katniss heard a motored vehicle zooming closer.

The approaching vehicle turned out to be a Rebel army car that was painted dark aqua—General Oleery's command colors. Oleery and Col. Boggs hurried out of the car.

"The Three Mockingjays are unarmed," Oleery said to Boggs. The two men moved to stand in front of Peeta, Prim, and Katniss, facing Alma Coin and the Thirteen soldiers.

By now, other Thirteen soldiers were part-dragging, part-carrying Minerva Snow toward Alma Coin and the gray truck that Coin was standing next to.

Oleery said, "What are you _doing_ , General Coin? Minerva Snow is under my protection. This is a direct order: Release her at once."

Alma Coin said, "You forget, _Victor_ , that I am not only _General_ Coin, but I am also _President_ Coin—president of District Thirteen. As _President_ Coin, I am not subject to your orders, _Victor_. What am I doing? I shall offer President Snow a simple trade: He gets his granddaughter back safely; but in return he resigns, naming me as his successor. I shall even promise to pardon all his crimes, and to grant him and his granddaughter life and freedom for his remaining years."

Katniss growled.

Peeta laughed. "You want to be president of a dark, tesserae-eating Capitol? Knock yourself out."

Coin said scornfully, "You forget, _child_ , that now District Thirteen is the only district in Panem with nuclear missiles." She gestured toward Mount AEterna, whose east-side tunnel still had smoke pouring out of it. "Once I am president of the Capitol and District Thirteen both, every other district shall join the 'Union of Panem,' or that district will become a green-glass crater. By April"—now about two weeks away—"I will be president of Panem."

Katniss muttered, "Alma Coin is _evil_."

Minerva Snow now had been dragged to right behind the gray army truck. Thirteen Brigade soldiers lifted her up and tossed her into the truck. Minerva screamed.

* * *

 **One second later**

Oleery yelled, "In Thirteen you can call yourself 'President' if you want. Or 'Queen,' for all I care. But in District Two, you are a brigadier general, you are my subordinate officer, and you are disobeying a _direct order_. I order you again: _Let Minerva Snow go_."

Alma Coin yelled, "Thirteens, shoot the Victor if he says anything more."

It was Peacekeeper General Marcus who spoke next: " 'President of Panem'? Woman, you're just a _goddamn mutineer_."

Katniss could see the Thirteen soldiers pointing guns at the five of them, the Thirteens visible through the gap between Oleery's body and Boggs's body. Katniss's right arm was behind Col. Boggs's left arm; Katniss's left hand was behind the pistol on Oleery's right hip.

To right-handed Thirteens, Katniss seemed harmless until she side-stepped to her left. But Katniss was not right-handed, she was left-handed. She could grab Oleery's pistol this very moment and fire it one-handed.

But was this smart? Could she grab the pistol, raise it, and fire in time? What if she were not fast enough? Then the Thirteens would shoot not only Katniss herself, and Oleery, and Boggs, but also Prim and Peeta—the two people on Earth whom Katniss was certain she loved.

Then Katniss looked at Alma Coin's haughty face and Katniss realized: _She'll order us shot anyway—us five, and the Peacekeepers, and the surrendered civilians. We're all witnesses_.

 _Fuck the bitch_ , Katniss thought. _I have to_ try _to shoot her_.

Katniss grabbed the pistol out of Oleery's holster, and clicked off the safety as she yanked her arm up.

 _Too slow_ , Katniss's brain screamed. _I'm too slow!_ Light flashed off a gun barrel—a Thirteen soldier was moving his weapon to aim at her.

Katniss was pointing Oleery's pistol at Alma Coin— _Hurry, hurry!_ —and was perfecting her aim—

 _BLAM!_

—when Alma Coin's head exploded. Her lifeless body fell forward.

Everyone gasped.

Katniss's first thought was, _A Peacekeeper shot her_. But when Katniss looked at the Peacekeepers, all of them were still kneeling; and all of the Peacekeepers and all of the civilians were looking off to their left (Katniss's right). So Katniss looked to her right.

Lt. Jackson stood behind where Alma Coin had stood; Lt. Jackson's feet were planted shoulder-width apart, and her smoking pistol was held in a two-handed grip. Lt. Jackson's pistol was still aimed at the space where Alma Coin's head had been.

Kneeling, weaponless Peacekeeper General Marcus said to Lt. Jackson, "Enemy officer lady, I can't tell you how _satisfying_ this was to see."

Oleery turned his head to the right and murmured, "Katniss, thank you for taking initiative. Now please give me my pistol back."

* * *

 **In the next minutes**

Major General Oleery wrote out orders that promoted Col. Boggs to brigadier general, and that placed General Boggs in command of the Thirteen Brigade.

General Boggs's first action as brigade commander was to personally help Minerva Snow to climb down from the truck she had been tossed into. Once the girl was on the ground, Boggs said to her, "I think Peeta and Primrose want to hug you." Minerva ran off toward the Three Mockingjays.

General Boggs's second action was to deal with Lt. Jackson. Jackson was sweating and shaking—the signs of someone coming down from an adrenaline high. She shakily saluted and said, "Sir, Lieutenant Alma Jackson, presenting myself for discipline."

Boggs replied calmly, "Tell me why you did this."

She replied, "Sir, the Peacekeeper officer was right: Once our soldiers pointed their weapons at the Supreme Commander, General Coin was indeed a mutineer. But long before this, Primrose Everdeen said in Abernathy's basement that President Coin had all these plans for the Rebellion being fought a certain way, not because our president thought this would give the Rebellion the best chance of success, but because it would make President Coin the president of Panem. Sir, I _wanted_ to believe that this thirteen-year-old girl was mistaken about Alma Coin. But for the past nine months, the idea has whispered in my head, 'Maybe Primrose is right. Maybe the entire Rebellion is just a ruse to put President Coin into Snow's chair.' Today, _Mutineer_ Coin proved Primrose was right all along, so I shot my president."

Boggs nodded. "That day, young Primrose's words disturbed me too, for the same reason."

Boggs announced loudly that Coin was a mutineer, so Lt. Jackson would be subject to _no_ discipline, officially or unofficially. _However_ , Alma Coin was to be buried in District Two, here by Mount AEterna; Lt. Jackson was to oversee the burial detail of ten volunteer Thirteen soldiers; and "Lt. Jackson, you _personally_ shall dig five full shovels of dirt for Alma Coin's grave, no matter how hard the ground is."

(Boggs's logic for burying Alma Coin in District Two, rather than flying her back to District Thirteen in a gray hovercraft, was twofold. First, with District Two surrendered, the only action left for the Rebellion to take was to capture the Capitol, and the Rebellion needed every flyable hovercraft to be available. Second, sending a combat-ready hovercraft away from combat for most of a day, just to transport a corpse, would be "wasteful of resources," something Alma Coin herself had strongly disapproved of.)

* * *

 **Ten minutes later  
In the skies above the Capitol**

Rebel hovercraft made a fake attack on the Presidential Mansion, just to sucker Hovercraft Base Beta's four remaining Peacekeeper flying machines into dogfights.

The Rebels lost four hovercraft—but they could afford to lose four hovercraft. The Peacekeepers also lost four hovercraft—everything they had.

The Capitol was utterly defenseless now, except for whatever Peacekeepers were already in the city. While the Peacekeepers in Capitol Prison were skilled at torture, their skills as soldiers were rusty.

(Oh, _in theory_ there were hundreds of deadly "pods" scattered around the Capitol—Gamemaker-designed traps that would make hamburger of an advancing Rebel army. But to be armed, these pods needed signals that were sent using electricity—electricity that came ultimately from District Five or from local generators. The Rebels decided when electricity would come from District Five, and the local generators ran off fuel oil—which the Rebels had looted off all incoming trains for the past seven months! In short, the pods _right now_ were no more of a threat to the Rebels than a dozen hissing kittens.)

President Snow realized that with no hovercraft left, and with rationed electricity, he was SOL. Snow made a telephone call to General Oleery; Snow's first words were "I am in check, but I cannot move. I resign."

A Rebel hovercraft flew Minerva Snow, General Oleery, and twelve combat-skilled soldiers from Reaped districts, all to Hovercraft Base Beta. A dark-aqua army truck, armored and armed, drove from Hovercraft Base Beta through the quiet Capitol to the Presidential Mansion. As Minerva Snow stood behind her grandfather and rubbed his shoulders, Coriolanus Snow signed the paper in which he unconditionally surrendered to Oleery.

Then the twelve combat-skilled Rebel soldiers arrested President Snow.

The Second Rebellion was over, and the Districts had won.

The interim president of Panem was chosen this way: The names of Oleery, Sahad, Paylor, and Boggs were put into a glass ball—Panem suddenly had a surplus of the things—and Effie Trinket drew a name. Lyme Sahad became the interim President of Panem.

* * *

 **A week after the Rebellion ended  
In District Twelve**

In three days, two weddings/toastings were held and Dr. Picardo moved away.

Monday was the marriage and toasting of Haymitch Abernathy and Euphemia Trinket. The couple toasted, after they signed the paperwork in the Justice Building, after they were ceremonially married by Acting Mayor Madge Undersee on the Square-facing steps of the Justice Building— _after_ Prim drew Effie's name from one glass ball, and Peeta drew Haymitch's name from the other glass ball.

On Tuesday, Second Lieutenant Gale Hawthorne and Acting Mayor Madge Undersee married. The ceremony was performed by Peeta Mellark at the acting mayor's request. Besides the bride's and groom's families attending, the other District Twelve Victors and the merchants came (except for Medea Mellark, who claimed she had to mind the bakery).

Wednesday, Dr. Picardo left District Twelve for a job at a hospital in District Three, which paid much better. (Dr. Picardo had been fired by Capitol Coal soon after the Rebellion began, for "unauthorized medical treatments"—meaning, patching up gun-shot Rebels. But on the day after the Rebellion had ended, Katniss had told Dr. Picardo's story, and her own, in a shortwave message, with Peeta interviewing Dr. Picardo, Katniss, and Darius MacGregor. After this shortwave broadcast, job offers for Dr. Picardo had flooded in.) As Katniss had promised almost two years earlier, now when Dr. Picardo would leave Twelve forever, Katniss was at the train station to say goodbye.

* * *

 **A month after the Rebellion ended  
** **In District Twelve**

A little after 6 a.m., when there was just enough light to see outside, Peeta kissed Katniss goodbye. "Good luck," Katniss said to Peeta.

Then Peeta walked out of Victors' Village into town, to the back door of Mellark's Bakery. Peeta knocked, and the door was answered—as Peeta knew would happen.

Peeta's father Cake answered the door, looking surprised to see his youngest son. When Peeta walked past his father into the bakery's workroom, his older brothers, Cutter and Yeast, looked just as surprised to see him. Peeta's brothers' surprise was no surprise—from the minute that Peeta had been Reaped, he had not set foot in any part of the bakery—with one never-to-be-forgotten exception.

Now Peeta said to his father, very seriously, "Please go upstairs and fetch Mother. She'll want to be in on this."

After Peeta's father left, Yeast Mellark asked, "What's going on, Peeta?"

Peeta shook his head. "I'll wait to tell y'all when Mother is here."

When Medea Mellark walked into the workroom, she looked as puzzled as the three other Mellark men.

Peeta took a breath and said, "With the end of Snow as president, the rule that says Victors can't do real work is gone forever. In District Four, Finnick, Annie, and SurfEllen went partners on a fishing trawler. Johanna in Seven is haggling to buy a paper mill. Prim has gone back to being the assistant District Twelve healer. I'm here because I want to work in this bakery again—as the owner."

Peeta offered as the purchase price, twelve times the bakery's average annual earnings—a ridiculously generous offer. _And_ Cutter and Yeast would be allowed to live in the upstairs apartment for as long as they remained unmarried.

Cake and Medea, on the other hand, would be _required_ to move out of the upstairs apartment. And furthermore—

"I'm _banned_ from the bakery?" Medea Mellark shouted. "Oh, _yeah?_ You just _try_ and keep me out!"

Peeta did not cower, he frowned. "Peacekeeper Captain Baxter is still Head Peacekeeper in District Twelve. He is still in the Peacekeeper Corps, after both Prim and I wrote letters vouching for his good character. He's a quarryman's son from District Two, and he understands _owing_ just as well as any Seam person. So do the math, Mother. Especially as _yes_ , if I have to telephone him about you, I'll press charges."

Cake asked his sons, "What do you think?"

Yeast gave his mother Medea a hard look. "I wouldn't mind working for _Peeta_. In fact, it'd be easier in some ways."

Cutter said, "I like the work, but I've dreaded inheriting all the responsibility. Do it, Dad."

Medea swelled up. "Not so fast! Before we agree to this, I insist on changes."

Peeta said, "I point out, Mother, that you do not own _any_ of the bakery. Dad is sole owner. And if you _henpeck_ Dad into demanding terms I don't like, I can easily walk away from this deal." Prim had coached Peeta over and over about being willing to walk away.

The final deal was much the same as Peeta's first offer. Peeta allowed himself to be talked up to paying fifteen times annual earnings, instead of twelve—but his parents were given only three days to leave the bakery's apartment.

Once Peeta Mellark became owner of Mellark's Bakery—

Peeta replaced the sign (which was weathered and needed replacing anyway) with a three-section wooden sign that said "Peeta Mellark's Bakery." The new sign was hand-carved and painted in District Seven, and looked fancy. As soon as Peeta put up the new sign, drop-in tourist visits to the bakery tripled.

Peeta hired Community Home orphan Gamma Churchill to work behind the counter (when she was not in school). Hiring Gamma Churchill brought Peeta a lot more Seam business—

—especially after Peeta started a birthday registry. Every child in District Twelve was given a free cookie with icing on his or her birthday. As Peeta explained whenever any Seam parent mentioned "owing": "District Twelve pledged seventeen PDs for Katniss in her Games, and Katniss is the love of my life, so I'm paying back her debt."

As soon as Haymitch learned that Peeta now owned the bakery, Haymitch all but begged Peeta to add powdered donuts to the menu. Mischievous-smiling Prim commented, "Maybe you _shouldn't_ add them. Peeta, your and my relationship with Haymitch and Effie changed for the better, soon after Haymitch made that crack on the train about Mellark's _not_ carrying powdered donuts." Peeta laughed, slapped Haymitch on the back, and promised to let Haymitch taste-test the first batch of powdered donuts.

Peeta made one other change to the bakery. Behind the display case, on the back wall of the bakery-store part of the bakery, Peeta painted a life-size mural—

On the viewer's right, Katniss stands, wearing her father's leather hunting jacket; Katniss's left hand holds a dead rabbit by the ears. A keen observer will note that there is a bloody hole where the rabbit's right eye once was. Katniss looks solemnly at the viewer. Katniss's right hand is on Peeta's shoulder.

Mural-Peeta stands wearing white workpants and a white t-shirt, with a white baker's apron over all this. His hands are whitened with flour. Peeta's grin is as big as Katniss's smile is nonexistent. Peeta is holding a wide tray that is piled high with baked goods. A keen observer will note that the edge of the tray that is close to Katniss is where the cheese buns are.

Next to Mural-Peeta, Haymitch stands slouched, with a smirk on his face. His left hand has eased a silver hip flask halfway out of the pocket of his jacket.

Next to Haymitch, Effie looks like she did at the Seventy-fourth Reaping. She is turned sideways, facing Haymitch; she alone, of all the people in the mural, is not looking at the viewer. Mural-Effie's left arm is behind Haymitch's waist, but her right hand and arm are in front of Haymitch; Effie points at Haymitch's half-revealed hip flask. Effie's lips are pursed in disapproval.

Prim is in front of everyone else; she sits on the ground cross-legged, halfway between standing Katniss and standing Peeta. Prim is holding Buttercup. Prim's smile is cheerful and carefree; Buttercup's misshapen ears lay flat and he looks grumpy.

* * *

 **Six weeks after the Rebellion ended**

After a six-week trial, Coriolanus Snow was found guilty of 347 crimes against humanity.

The verdict was never in doubt. Interim President Lyme Sahad had ordered Snow to be given a public trial so that Snow's abuses could be publicly documented.

Right after the 347 verdicts were announced, the judge pronounced sentence.

The next day, Snow was Launched into the Clock Arena. The Gong sounded immediately. At the Cornucopia, Snow found only a knife, a bottle of water, and an energy bar.

As Snow was looking over these paltry "gifts" of the Cornucopia, a synthetic voice sounded in the arena: "Attention, tribute. All wedge dangers shall become active at ten minutes after the Gong. The odds are not in your favor."

Coriolanus Snow lived seventeen minutes more.

His body was never retrieved from the arena; and for two years, sympathizers never managed to penetrate the arena force field and to extract his corpse. After two years, Snow's tracker stopped broadcasting, so that it became impossible to find his corpse (which by then had been reduced to scattered and fleshless bones, somewhere in the jungle).

The force field was dropped after the death of Snow's tracker. But by then, Snow's sympathizers had themselves been arrested and/or executed, so their grand plan to bury Coriolanus Snow in the Capitol, in state, never happened. Snow's corpse became, and remained, part of the Clock Arena's ecology.

Ghost stories about the Clock Arena began almost from the moment the force field was dropped for good.

* * *

 **Six months after the Rebellion ended**

Plutarch Heavensbee and Fulvia Cardew filed for unemployment. Eventually they each were awarded a small stipend.

A year later, Fulvia took a job squeegeeing blood off the floor in a District Ten slaughterhouse.

Plutarch Heavensbee never worked again.

From time to time, Plutarch told someone that it had been his idea, which he had suggested to Alma Coin, that Peeta, Primrose, and Katniss become the Three Mockingjays and record pro-Rebellion messages. Plutarch was never believed.

* * *

 **Thirteen years after the Rebellion ended  
Capitol University, the Capitol**

As grinning Prim was awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree, Prim's mother Aloe Everdeen, Prim's fiancé Rory Hawthorne, Prim's grandparents Moss and Beana Tyndale, Effie Abernathy, District Twelve Mayor Madge Undersee-Hawthorne and Major Gale Hawthorne, all three other District Twelve Victors, Hammerhead Oleery, Lyme Sahad, other former Victors, Distaff Paylor, Minerva Snow, Dr. Josephus Picardo and Urbania Patterson-Picardo, and the "fans of Primrose" all applauded.

At the first opportunity, Katniss Mellark hugged her little sister. "I'm so proud of you, Doctor Duck."

* * *

 **Fifteen years after the Rebellion ended  
Victors' Village, District Twelve**

At the dining table, Katniss looked at Peeta with a serious expression. "The time has come. I've decided I'll do it."

Peeta grinned, stood up, ran around the table, and kissed Katniss on the mouth. "Finally! _Thank you_ , Katniss!"

Thirteen-year-old Willow asked, "What are you going to do, Mom?"

Katniss replied, "Record a music album. Maybe record more albums afterward, if the first album sells good."

"I'll buy one!" said ten-year-old Arrow. "Well, I will if I get a raise in my allowance." Arrow looked hopefully at his father, who had just sat down again.

Willow said scornfully to her brother, "Mom will be given a free copy, so _you_ won't need to buy one. Don't you know _anything?_ "

Four months later, "Coal Miner's Daughter," the debut album of Katniss Mellark, went up for sale. The album picture was not a photograph of Katniss; but rather, an oil painting of her holding a dandelion in one hand and two burned(!) loaves of bread in the other hand. The first song on the album was a pre-Catastrophes song, "Coal Miner's Daughter." The second song was "Deep in the Meadow"; the third song was Katniss joyously singing (and clapping to) "Capitol Party Party"; this track was followed by "The Valley Song." The last song on the album was an _a cappella_ original composition, "Much Worse Games to Play."

The album was a smash hit. And since Primrose Hawthorne, M.D. had negotiated the recording contract, Katniss earned many cubic meters' worth of paper PD bills.

 **THE END**

* * *

I hope you've enjoyed this story, which is absolutely the most unusual "Prim goes into the arena" AU story on FFN/AO3.

Thank you for reading this to the end. (For those who read only the first chapter and the last chapter, I've written lots of good stuff in Chapters 2 through 37. Backtrack and read; you _won't_ regret it.)

I am an independent author, with books for sale. If you want to find out more, go to my Profile.


End file.
